Just reality for me
by Water-star
Summary: The story of Cinderella was about facing your inner demons, finding Prince Charming and living happily ever after. But for Asuka at the age of 17, she knows that fairy tales don't exist no matter how much you wish for them. Especially after Third Impact..
1. No such thing as fairy tales

Chapter 1: No such thing as fairy tales

_Oh God when the fuck is this over?_

A question groaning inside the mind of one Miss Asuka Langley Sorhyu's mind since looking at her watch for the _nth_ time. Realising that time would not fly by simply looking at her watch, Asuka gave a tired sigh as she used the kitchen's tiled wall to support her exhausted body. Both tired and yearning to get out of her work uniform so she could go home and rest. _Though there's no real point of wondering and wanting_ _because all I'll do is just go home, study and then would put up with my room mates._

She was seventeen now and had changed completely changed over the years; physically, mentally & emotionally for one main reason: Third Impact.

When Asuka woke up, she was surprised to have found Shinji on top of her whilst strangling her. By some miracle she had managed to stop him by simply touching his cheek with a gentle warmth that even Asuka herself, did not know that she possessed, stopping his dead in his tracks and instead making him an emotional wreck. The sight of the supposed "Invincible Third Child" disgusted Asuka and made her realise that she wanted Shinji out of her life, permantley.

So when Shinji finally got off of her, Asuka violently shoved him to the ground and ran; fearing for her life. When she was far enough away from Ikari, Asuka stumbled through the ruins of her temporary home, reminding her that she could no longer stay here. But then again, she had always known that this wasn't where she belonged.

With this as her final decision, Asuka decided it'd be best if she just left Tokyo-3 altogether, so after finding a car and having the basic knowledge of how to operate the vehicle, Asuka drove to the furthest city she could think of: Kyoto. Upon arriving to her destination Asuka managed to find an apartment that did still remained intact and did not contain remains of human LCL, then found some appropriate furniture & necessities she would need to survive. A little while after settling into her "new home", Asuka began looking roaming around the broken streets of Kyoto in hopes to find anymore human life and was sadly disappointed to have found the two people that she hated the most: Rei and Mana.

Although Asuka had been greatly tempted to leave them then & there and let them sort themselves out, inside she knew she couldn't abandon them. Because as much as she wanted to have no contact with neither of the girls, she didn't like the thought of being all alone on this god forsaken planet, even if it was Rei & Mana. So Asuka took the girls to her place and tended to them, soon they had came to the agreement that it was best if they lived together for various reasons, even if Asuka couldn't stand the sight of Mana and vice-versa.

As months went by, more and more people started coming out of the beach of LCL and Asuka was overjoyed to see Hikari one day as well as a girl their age named Jayne. She (who is now today 5ft 8) had softly tanned skin with kingfisher-blue eyes and hair the colour of auburn with blonde highlights had a crown-cut style with many layers that seemed to flick up. Although she had all the qualities to be a model, Jayne's dream was to be a fashion designer.

The three of them had become close during the years and though they had all wanted so badly to live together, Asuka knew that it would be best for everyone to live with Rei & Mana for fear that SEELE still existed and looking for them. For that, the people who were somehow involved with Evangelion took precautions such as changing their names and appearances, except for young Jayne.

Rei's name was now changed to Kaldea and she had dyed her hair into a chest length mahogany hair, tanned skin, ice-blue contacts, only growing to the height of 5ft 7.

Mana's name changed to Asako along with her hair which was now shoulder-length caramel-blonde, hazel-brown contacts and with the same height as Rei.

Hikari's name was now Aki who had her hair up to her chest and it was now the colour of burnt sienna with yellow & orange highlights. Her eyes were the bright colour of turquoise with her skin lightly tanned and had surprisingly grown taller than the other two girls just by a few inches.

But out of all Asuka had made most drastic changes; her name now being Dominique and becoming the tallest out of the group with the height status as 5ft 9, piercing her ears with gold & ruby earrings and her belly button which was of a rose-gold sun. Her once porcelain-like skin was now tanned into a golden brown warmth (thanks to fake tanning lotion) along with her once fire-like hair turning into a chocolate-brown that was always worn in a high ponytail, but always keeping her red interference-clips underneath her pillow.

And finally her sapphire-like eyes that she had always been so proud of changed were now the colour of emerald, however, she always covered them with a pair of thin-rimmed glasses that she didn't need to wear but wore anyway so she could have a geeky appearance, thus making boys not give even a single thought of asking her out.

Yes Dominique these days hated the thought of getting attention and was even more disgusted at the thought of how she use to thrive on her popularity. Dominique never bothered to make any friends these days because she had Jayne & Aki and she was satisfied with that. She didn't need any other friends because everyone at her school were all a bunch of dick heads that thought of her as a freak, but fuck them. She no longer cared whether she was the prettiest or the most popular in school because none of it mattered once they entered the real world.

Some would say that Asuka (or I should say Dominique) was a bitter bitch who loved to burst someone's bubble with her cynicism, but for those who truly knew her, knew that she was only being realistic because none of them ever had to go through all the shit she had been put through and unlike the pretty girls at school that were under delusion by hoping to find their "Prince Charming" and get their "Happily ever after", Dominique just rolled her eyes and thought they better get off whatever drugs they were taking.

Because this was reality and in reality there's no such thing as fairy tales.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by her boss. For whoever called Dominique a bitter bitch, then that person should definitely meet this lady because this woman was Big Bitch Infinity plus one. She was in her late 30's with a height of 5'5ft with a reasonable figure, short platinum-gold hair (which Dominique contemplated many times as to have been bleached) and almond coloured eyes. "Your shift is over Dominique. I'll see you tomorrow, sadly..." Ryoka said with a bitter tone and an obvious look of disgust on her face.

"Have a good afternoon, _Miss_ Ryoka." Dominique said in a honeyed tone, knowing that she had struck home.

A look that Dominique could not describe had crossed Ryoka's features but she said nothing, only grunting and then walked off. Thankful for that, Dominique quickly left and got into her cherry-red Citroen; it was a convertible 2010 model and auto. The car had sentimental value to her because this was the car she had used to get to Kyoto and escape from her old life, grateful for its act of kindness, she kept the car in a mint condition before she was legally allowed to drive it.

As the brunette entered her apartment she took her time to walk to her room, but did not bother greeting her room mates as she knew that they'd probably be out. Over the years the three girls lived together Kaldea (Rei) and Asako (Mana) had managed to become close friends almost instantly, which did a great favour for Kaldea because this had helped her to become more sociable around friends, but somehow she had managed to still keep her quiet nature even around some of her friends.

Dominique grabbed a can of soft drink from the fridge and went to her room but frowned as she remembered the state of it; textbooks, study notes & clothes all over the floor. The ex-Eva pilot was currently studying for her year twelve exams and was struggling at choosing which university was best for her to enrol to, although she knew that she didn't need to go to uni again she chose to attend for several reasons:

1. Even with her qualifications, Dominique had a new identity and it wouldn't look good if she used her uni certificate under her old name.

2. It would mean that she could finally leave this apartment and live on campus, meaning she would never have to hear from neither Mana nor Rei again.

3. It would give her the perfect chance to meet people who were like her and know that she would be respected as a equal and not be given the treatment of a little girl.

The seventeen year old shuddered at the unpleasant memories attending university as a thirteen year old. It pissed her off to remember that although she would act maturely and have the same views & opinions as an adult, she was still seen as only a child that shouldn't be in this strange yet fascinating stage of her life yet. Even when she piloted Eva, she knew that she thought as merely as a child but now Dominique would give anything to be a little girl again because you only have innocence for so long.

Now at seventeen it hurt realising that she had given up most of her childhood and her chances of being a normal kid so easily, but now she tried to take advantage of every second of her limited childhood knowing that once it was gone, it'd be gone for good. But at the same time she refused to act childish as other kids when life became shit because Dominique knew that she had big responsibilities to uphold such as working hard through all of school, keeping her job as a waitress at a small but popular cafe and making sure the government wouldn't find her or her comrades.

Dominique was about to go onto her laptop until she got a text message on her small, Nokia flip-top phone. The message was from Aki.

_Hey Dominique, wanna go out 4 a slice of pizza? I'm with Jayne so she could pic u up if u want._

Dominique groaned aloud, she wasn't sure if she wanted to do that at the present moment but when she remembered that she'd probably have to cook one of those frozen meals the girls have been living on for the past few weeks, the young girl decided she's take her chances on pizza.

_Sure c'ya in 5._

Dominique got a reply of acknowledgement and quickly changed into a slightly unbuttoned long-sleeved navy top, faded ripped jeans with blue converse sneakers, she then ran out the door to see Jayne's car which was sky-metallic blue Mini with the roof currently down.

Jayne had a pair of green denim shorts, green strapped hill-platforms and a baby pink tube top with both mint-green stitching & ribbon for straps she made herself which was currently showing her white-gold moon belly ring while Aki had her hair down wearing yellow halter top showing her yellow-gold star belly ring, an orange skirt with splits on each side and orange platform boots. The three girls had gotten their bellies pierced together when they were all seventeen as a triple dare one Friday night after a Shakespeare exam.

When Dominique got into the back seat of the car, Jayne put an old CD of the Black eyed peas into the CD player and the car's speakers roared playing _Pump it _as Jayne took off. "So have you had any thought about going to the Kyoto ball?" She asked when she finally got onto the main road but was paying more attention to the road than her question. The Kyoto ball was a huge masquerade formal for all the high schools in the country, only seniors were allowed to attend.

"Fuck no! I don't go to that kind of shit, it's all 'fancy dress, romance & happy times' kind of fantasy crap!" Dominique answered.

"You know Dominique, you use to love that kind of shit before Third Impact!" Aki retorted in a laid back tone wearing a small smirk.

"I know but that was before the world turned me into a bitter bitch!" The brunette replied a mock-seriousness tone.

"God damn it you're not a fucking bitter bitch! Just because they can't get a grip on reality doesn't mean they should take it out on you!" Jayne said rolling her eyes.

"Fuck them, why are we even bothering remembering them? We only have to put up with them for another few months then we're out of here!" Said Aki.

"I know. We'll be able to do whatever the hell we want and no one will be able to stop us!" Jayne replied.

"Jayne, we do whatever the hell we want anyway!" Dominique reminded her.

"Yeah but we'll also be working hard to achieve what we want," Jayne said in a girlie tone mocking the whole BFF crap and making the other two girls laugh.

"Oh shit Jayne are you sure you wanna be a fashion designer? Because you would be great as a comedian!" Dominique asked after getting over her fits of laughter.

"Nah too much publicity, besides I rather not be like Andy Kaufman if that's alright with you, pretending to be someone else as a joke and then pretend they're a real person! That's too fucking creepy! Anyway back onto the real subject, are you sure you don't want to go? I wanna only go just to design the outfits for the evening and they'd be really good for my portfolio. Can we go? Pleasssssssse?" Jayne pleaded with those same innocent puppy eyes that always made Dominique wish that she was still blind, well half-blind.

"Oh come on Dominique, it'd fun watching everyone make an ass of themselves and besides it may be fun!" Aki said with the same look in her eyes.

"Oh god, I must be getting soft! Fine, we'll... we'll... Go to this thing. There are you fucking satisfied!" Dominique yelled out in a defeated tone and threw her arms up in the air, annoyed when she heard both of her friends cheer. "But I'm not getting a date!"

"Of course you don't have to! I'm not!" Aki said.

"No chance in hell for me either! Not much to choose from anyway."

"You got that right." Dominique remarked and none really bothered speaking until they got to the pizzeria but they were sadly disappointed to see that it was busy tonight with mostly teenagers so they went to MacDonalds instead and ordered through the drive way.

Most of the kids were from their school.

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A few hours later Dominique quietly entered the apartment door after being dropped off by Jayne. She waited for any yelling from Mana for not telling either one of them where she was going, or for not getting any groceries. Basically they tried to use Dominique as a slave but she wasn't going to take any of that. But all was quiet.

_So this is what Shinji felt like when I gave him shit or when he got home from NERV? Oh god damn that would suck!_ When she entered her room, Dominique slowly pulled out her hair band making her hair fall gracefully to her waist, she then took off her glasses & contacts and fell backwards onto her bed.

Nothing but silence played in her ears as she looked at her ceiling. So this was her life and although Dominique didn't hate it but she didn't love it either, it was just balanced. She knew that she would do the same routine again tomorrow but she wanted it that way.

That way she could forget all about fairy tales.

End of Chapter 1.

AN: I hope you all liked and I'm sorry to everyone who wants to flame me for changing all the girls' names & appearances but as I say once again they are hiding from SEELE and if you want to flame me for that then stuff you! If anyone liked this then please R&R because I really like the idea I have for this story. It's basically another Cinderella plot you've read in other fanfics but I'm doing it with an Evangelion twist and I'm doing the best I can to keep Asuka (Dominique in character.)


	2. Another day of bitchiness

Chapter 2: Another day of bitchiness

"Where the hell were you last night?" The supposed sweet and innocent Miss Mana, who was better known as Asako, had demanded. To Asuka, she had become a real bitch over the last four years, even more than her boss!

"Jesus Christ, Asako! I don't need you to know every fucking detail of my life!" Dominique spat out, Asako flinched a bit but it was only momentarily.

"You know Dominique in this apartment while you live here, we all have an obligation to tell each other about what is happening or else we're gonna think that SEELE has killed you! Though I really don't give a shit if it's you."

"Fuck you, Asako! In case you haven't noticed, this is MY apartment and seeing's though you don't pay the rent, I don't have to put up with you're bull shit!" Dominique shouted before grabbing her bag and walking out the door.

_That bitch has no right to question whatever the fuck I do!_ This was the definitely start to another day and she hated it. _Just a few more weeks then I'm gone for good!_ The thought, however, didn't make Dominique feel any better and she wasn't sure if she could handle another day of posers, dick heads & people believing in a fantasy of make-believe and to make it worse, Dominique could feel another migraine coming along.

An everyday ritual she had to endure since the destruction of Unit 02.

They weren't too bad once you got use to them, a little aspirin in the process once in a while and a bottle of whiskey or tequila once in a while if it got too bad, no problem. But when it comes to nightmares... sadly the problem cannot be as easily solved by a artificial man-made products, especially when they involve your dead mother. Sure the dreams weren't as hurtful as the ones Asuka had received when she was younger, but they left her feeling lonely, disappointed and angry all at the same time.

_Loneliness-_ To know that her mother had been along with her the whole time but when she finally realised it, Asuka lost her once again. Except this time she knew it was for real and she was truly all alone.

_Anger-_ That she had lost to the Eva series when she was incapable of fighting back. They were vultures circling on it's weak prey, like cowards they were ganging up on its prey because they feared that creature that was almost as powerful as god himself.

_Disappointment-_ That no matter how hard Asuka tried, she had failed. Not only for herself but for her mother because once Asuka had been finally reunited with her mother, she had manage to let Kyoko slip right out of her fingers. But Asuka hadn't just let herself down, Shinji was just as guilty committing to this offence. The "Invincible Shinji" who had always been there to save the day for everyone else was not there when she needed him the most. And so she was tortured with the unbearable sting of defeat; physically & emotionally.

After this experience Asuka was able to come up with a theory; whenever she finally realised how good she has it, she always ended up losing it in the most painful and humiliating way.

Some would break down, unable to wake up to face another morning and others would drink themselves stupid and they either had to get their stomach pumped or died due to alcohol poisoning, but Dominique hated self-pity and refused to feel sorry herself. That's what made her stronger every day and only made her even more determined to keep the promise she had made to herself when she was only four while attending her mother's burial-

To never cry again.

A cheerful, bouncy pop song was playing on the radio as Dominique drove her way to school, but she never noticed it. At that present moment she was too busy thinking, the concept of her life was confusing and what she had become seemed bitter, but she smiled at the thought because she saw an upside to it.

At least she would never have be disappointed again.

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"Oh hey Minnie how have you been? Not the usual freakish-self I hope!" A popular girl said with a smirk after Dominique got out of her car and had walked halfway to her care class. Dominique rolled her eyes at the pretty blonde girl named Anzu.

She was the typical "plastics" plus more. With the height of 5ft 5, Anzu took great pride in her figure, tanned her skin at every possible chance, hazel-brown eyes and her blonde hair reaching to her chest. Asuka could tell from the girl's appearance that she was not of Japanese heritage, her accent was New Zealand as it had always grated Asuka's nerves. She always wore heavy mascara, with heavy eyeliner and eye-shadow, her blouse always had three buttons undone and uniform skirt way that was so short that the scientist in Asuka wondered how it was even possible NOT to see the girl's undergarments.

Anzu: The kind that would never pass the opportunity to fuck every guy she could open her legs for.

Dominique had one day commented to Aki & Jayne that she had probably also fucked every male teacher to get good grades, the girls laughed agreeing with her opinion. However, by bad luck Anzu had somehow heard that comment and vowed to make Dominique's life a living hell. Though Anzu couldn't do shit even if she tried so Dominique would always be the winner but when the going got tough, Anzu would call for back up from her two best "friends"; Motowa and Amiya.

Motowa was a 5ft 4 stick bug that Dominique was sure she could easily snap in half. With purplish-blue eyes, an olive completion and hazel hair that was above her chest, Motowa was completely obsessed with the way that she looked and although Dominique despised her, she also pitied the girl.

Amiya was the girl who had all the looks but the IQ of 35. She was 5ft 6, curvy figure, honey-blonde hair with lavender highlights that went up to her waist, peach skin and eyes that reminded Dominique of the Caribbean. Although she was a dumb ass, she definitely knew everything there was to know about fashion and when the other two girls weren't around, Amiya was a human being and was actually nice to everyone.

"Hey where are you going?" Anzu asked wearing that evil smirk that Dominique loathed, when she didn't get a response she blocked the door leading to the school hall.

"Get out of my way," Dominique quietly threatened, she could feel another migraine coming on and this one felt as if it were slicing her brain. She really needed to sit down and get her aspirin from her bag, however, Anzu was only making it worse.

"Minnie, I'm shocked! You didn't say please!" Anzu said in a shocked-mocking tone.

"I'm warning you, if you don't move out of my way in a minute... I will personally make you fucking sorry." Dominique was getting angrier by the moment and she knew that if Anzu kept up with this attitude she'll end up on life-support, but Anzu didn't appear to be intimidated at all and instead kept provoking the brunette.

"Oh really? Don't threaten me with that kind of shit because I know that you wouldn't have the spine to punch me when the end of year exams are coming up. And if you did hit me then I'll do everything I can to get to expelled."

"Oh really? So you haven't done bondage with Sensei Taki yet?" Dominique asked rather shocked. Satisfaction overcame as she watched Anzu's cheeks blush into a deep red, however it was only momentarily as she was quickly rewarded with a punch in the face causing Asuka collided onto the concrete. Shocked that Anzu had manage to give her a decent punch, Dominique got on her feet and gave Anzu the dirtiest look anyone could muster. "Well, well, well. The bitch can fight after all and here I was thinking the only things you were good at was opening your legs!"

"BITCH!" Anzu screamed out, attempting to throw another punch at the ex-Evangelion pilot, but this time she easily avoided it and punched the blonde, giving her a black eye.

Anzu grabbed Dominique's throat and she hated to admit it, it was hurting. Her lungs began to burn intensely from the lack of oxygen so as a quick plan of action, Dominique kneed Anzu in the stomach and grabbed Anzu's shoulders before violently pushing her away and causing Anzu to crash head-on into the wall. The girl groaned and fell to the ground, giving Dominique enough satisfaction to know both that:

One- She wasn't unconscious so she wouldn't need any medical treatment and

Two- The bitch had learned her lesson.

Asuka gave a grunt of satisfaction before leaving the scene of her crime while wearing a small smirk.

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"Dominique is it true you actually had a fight with Anzu?" Jayne asked, she had heard about the fight during class but she couldn't ask the next period because she had a textile class so she had to wait until it was lunch.

"It was not a fight! It was merely self-defence," Dominique simply stated before taking another sip from her can of soft drink, Dominique only drunk it because it was the only liquid substance she could find in her fridge, but other than that she wasn't really a big fan on the sweet substance that was artificial.

Fake, just like everything else.

"Was that bitch giving you shit again?" Aki asked making Dominique raise an eyebrow at her friend's choice of colourful language, she shouldn't be surprised since Third Impact gave Hikari a new leaf to turn over, but it felt surreal seeing Hikari instead of being labeled as 'Hikari, the class rep,' she was now titled as 'Aki, a tough bitch to break.'

_At least she isn't shy anymore._ However, Aki was still a good girl, she just never showed it to strangers that's all. "Yes Aki, she was. But I gave her lesson that she'll never forget." Another smirk graced Dominique's fine features again, this did not phase the girls at all.

"Though she has everything coming to her, I'd watch it if I were you. Anzu may seem weak & pitiful but trust me, that kind of girl will do anything she can to make sure you get into trouble," Jayne said in a serious tone. Not a single trace of humor at all, that depressed Asuka.

"I know but I say bring it on. That girl's got nothing on me unlike herself. If Anzu were to do anything to me, I'll reveal the pictures of her & Mr Ryusei in a 'promising' position." Jayne & Aki both raised their eyebrows, both confused so to help them, Dominique opened her school bag and pulled out a manila folder. The two girls still looked at their unusual friend and then at each other before looking what was inside the folder making the both gasp out in shock.

"Terrible isn't it?" Dominique asked rhetorically.

"Where'd you get these photos?" Aki asked her friend, deeply disturbed of how she could've gotten the photos in the first place.

"Yeah what did you do, stalk them and took photographs when they were at it?" Jayne asked looking as deeply disturbed as Aki.

"Of course not! Daisuke had one was taking photos of the stars one night and because he lived across the street from Sensei. It wasn't too long before he realised the Anzu's car was outside so he witnessed the usual ritual of Anzu and knowing that I hated the bitch, he gave me the photos because he knew that I was twisted enough to use the photos in some sick way."

"He's got that right." They both said, looking at each other strangely afterwards.

"Well if Anzu tries to pull any shit on me, then I'm just gonna have to ruin her life."

"You're really evil, you know that?" Aki asked in a amused tone.

"I know and I love it."

"Hey Dominique, the Principal wants to see you and I'm pretty sure it's bad news!" The boy named Daisuke said running up to the girls.

To Dominique, Daisuke kind reminded her of Kensuke but this guy had the looks. He was 6ft, storm like eyes, red hair like Asuka's use to be, slightly tanned skin with a very good build. He was a good friend to the three girls after one physics lesson he had with Dominique one afternoon in yr9 and since then he was the only guy ever allowed to hang out with the three gorgeous rebels. The girls loved him because he was always kind to everyone but unfortunately he was also in love with Asako which always made Dominique wondered why he was when she could see that he deserved so much better. Not referring to herself of course, she hated the concept of romance.

"It seems that way but don't worry, I'll be out before you could say 'I beat the shit out of Anzu and I'm loving it!'" Dominique confidentially said standing up.

"You beat the shit out of Anzu!" Daisuke asked with a shocked expression on his face.

"Yep and I don't regret it."

"Well I have to admit that girl had it coming to her but I hope you won't get expelled over it!" Daisuke said.

"Oh I won't. Not after the Principal sees the pictures of one of his employees with a student."

"You're really evil do you know that?" Daisuke asked, shocked expression on his face realising that his photos would now be exposed to the whole world.

"God what is this, 'Say-the-same-phrases day'?" Dominique asked looking up to the sky in a sarcastic manner.

"Ha ha very funny but you better hurry up before the Principal chews your ass off for not hurrying up sooner or later."

"I suppose." Dominique said in a dramatic tone making Jayne & Aki laugh but managed to make Daisuke smile at his friend's weirdness.

"Alright I'll go now. Be back soon and if I don't well, Daisuke, you could have my room but don't make too much noise when you're in Mana's room or the neighbours will ring the police, trust me!" She said and gave him a sexy smile & a seductive wink. Both girls laughed out while Daisuke tried burying his head in embarrassment. With that reaction, Asuka knew she had done her job so she headed towards the principal's office knowing that this would be where she would have endure unthinkable tortures from the boring old geezer.

As usual.

End of Chapter 2.

AN: Thanks to animefan88 for your review and I will update soon so please stay on and for those who are just new to this fanfic then please review my story and if you do then thank you.


	3. An unexpected friend

Chapter 3: An unexpected friend

"So what's the verdict?" Jayne anxiously asked Dominique after school not being able to hear the bad news straight away due to the fact Jayne had an art class to attend to and Aki had to attend Food tech.

"Well I explained to him the whole situation of Anzu and she'll now be suspended for a month and Sensei Ryusei will now be investigated by the board of studies so life is pretty good at the moment." Dominique said to Jayne, Aki & Daisuke while wiping the tables of the cafe she worked in.

"Oh, by the way... I'm not allowed to attend the masquerade ball." Dominique quickly added before placing some dirty plates into the plate container she had to give to the dish washing boy.

"WHAT! WHY?" Jayne asked in shock.

"For a numerous amount of reasons. The number one was, even though I had told him about the affair between Anzu & Ryusei and proved it, he did not approve of my 'punching bag' incident with the slut. He said that I would not be expelled but I was forbidden from going to the masquerade ball so I threw a bunch of German insults at him and walked out. Although this got me ending up with having to do some school email pals club!"

"What a dick head!" Daisuke said surprising his friends. "Well it's true! Dominique was only defending herself!"

"That may be true but I don't seem overly concerned with going to the ball. But having to talk to some freak from the other side of the country! Well, that sucks."

"Where's he from?" Aki asked.

"Tokyo-1 and I have to do this until the school exams are over!" Dominique grunted through her gritted teeth but stopped it as she handed the dish box to the dish washing boy.

The girls stopped dead in their tracks upon hearing this, as both gave short sympathetic gazes as they realised that their friend had to talk to some random stranger from Tokyo, this would reopen some healed wounds for Asuka. Even if her email buddy wasn't from Tokyo-3, it was still Tokyo and poor Hikari was then reminded of what happened to her all friends & family in that god forsaken city, all now dead. Suddenly Aki wanted to do now was to go home and think about something else but she couldn't be Hikari anymore, she was Aki now and she had to be stronger than that, just like Asuka.

"But you have to study during those times, not talk to some guy who you don't know!" Daisuke argued completely oblivious to what Tokyo meant for Dominique & Aki.

"I know but that's what's going on."

Knowing that Dominique was going to be busy the next few hours, the friends all purchased a drink and left their friend before leaving a tip which made her feel like a scab.

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"Well let's see what my new email buddy like." Dominique muttered sarcastically to herself while watching her computer screen, she took a deep breath and began typing a message to her new email "buddy": Blue guy 606.

_Realist-girl 412: Hi Blue guy 606, i kno u hav no clue who the hell or y the fuck i'm talking 2 u but un4tunately i'm ur new email buddy, Realistic-girl 412._

There was no reply, Dominique became irritated but also felt a strange feeling of, disappointment? Thinking that no one would reply, the German was about to go off line until she received a message.

_Blue guy 606: Hi Realistic-girl 412 so u're my email buddy? I'm new 2 all this and i would've neva in my life hav done this but my teacher forced me. Stupid old hag takin' all her aggression out on me just bcoz she hasn't bn getting any action at home._

Dominique laughed and replied.

_Realistic-girl 412: Lol. I kno that feeling. My principal made me after i told him 2 go fuck himself in German after some bullshit that went on between me & this big slut at skool!_

_Blue guy 606: Well that sux. I got in trouble bcoz i was talkin' 2 my friends and she told me not 2, fair enough so i apologised but she then said i was being a smart ass so i told her 2 fuck off._

_Realistic-girl 412: God wat is it wit teachers these days? Always accusing us of something we didn't do._

_Blue guy 606: Yep especially our homework._

_Realistic-girl 412: That is so lame, u kno that._

_Blue guy 606: I kno, it's fucking depressing. I should go kill myself but then again i'm enjoying this conversation._

Dominique was taken back at what this guy had just written but she couldn't deny that she was enjoying messaging this guy, he was random. Just like her.

_Realistic-girl 412: Me 2 strangely. We should do this more often._

_Blue guy 606: Definitely. May b this whole email buddy thing won't b so bad after all._

_Realistic-girl 412: I think u're rite well do u wanna talk again 2morrow at 6?_

_Blue guy 606: Sure, c u there. Bye._

_Realistic-girl 412: Bye._

Dominique looked at her computer screen in amazement after she signed off, what she had just did felt... good in some weird fucked up way but then again they had only talked for a few minutes, at least talking to him wasn't that bad. Although Asuka reminded herself that this would be going on for two months and all she knew she could probably be screaming out "Hallelujah!" by then end, but at the moment it gave the young girl an invitation to escape reality. Well, just for a little while anyway.

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"Dominique hurry up and take table five's order!" Ryoka ordered, Dominique let out a grunted sigh.

"Yes Ryoka," Dominique politely replied to her boss in a grunted tone.

"And wipe the all tables when you're done!"

"Jeez Ryoka give Dominique some time to breathe why don't you?" Yuji sharply asked. Yuji was Ryoka's younger sister by thirteen years, with Yuji being twenty-five but honestly, they were nothing alike. While Ryoka was a total bitch, Yuji was the nicest woman you would've ever met.

Ryoka was the boss of the cafe formally known as "Ryoka's homely cafe" which disgusted Yuji because the cafe had once belonged to their parents who had died during Third Impact. Ryoka instantly claimed ownership over the cafe and everything else, with Yuji not getting any of the inheritance but only receiving a job as a waitress. The younger woman had never forgiven Ryoka for her betrayal and it's been like that for three years, right when Dominique was employed as a waitress, but while Ryoka had it all deep down, Dominique knew that Ryoka envied her younger and more attractive sister.

Yuji was 5ft 7 with terracotta hair that reached up to her chest with ocean-like eyes that seemed to sparkle and had a tanned, gorgeous figure. She also had a Chinese character for black panther tattoo on her back-right shoulder with pierced ears that had gold thread-through earrings (although she had several more higher above her ears.) To Dominique, Yuji was like the younger & much cooler mother she never had, Yuji would always be there for Dominique for advice or when Ryoka was giving Dominique shit, although Yuji would always tell her to think of her as her sister because she hated the thought of being that old.

Dominique remembered one day when was she much younger, she told Yuji that she was like Cinderella because of her sister's attitude towards Yuji, but she simply laughed at the thought and told Dominique that she was Cinderella, not her. Dominique thought that was stupid and dropped the subject.

"Dominique is it true you got into a fight with that slut Anzu?" Yuji asked when Ryoka was out of sight.

"Yes and I don't regret it!" Dominique simply said as she picked up the plates of an empty table and placed them into the same plastic tray that she always used.

"I know that Anzu had it coming but I don't want you to throw your life away after a few violent actions!" Yuji said as she took that tray from Dominique's hands so that she could wipe the table.

"I know I shouldn't of fought her but she was the one who threw the first swing, so why should I get punished? That little bitch has always given me and every other smart kid, loner or social-whatever shit so that she could make her & her friends feel better while we all feel shit about ourselves."

"When you say it like that, I can see that she truly did have what was coming to her. I just hope you won't get into much serious trouble!"

"Don't worry I've already received my punishment and it's me not going to the masquerade ball so I threw a few German insults at him and now I have to do a email buddies program, which incidentally I'm enjoying!"

"Ha you enjoy that sort of thing? Unlikely! Now for you to like talking to some stranger it must mean that they've either decked some "popular" asshole from school or they're a guy whose stolen your heart!"

"Argh, Yuji never in my life would I fall for some guy over the internet after just one conversation!" Dominique coolly replied. "Speaking of which, what's the time?"

"Hmm let's see... 5:45!" Yuji replied and was rewarded with a gasp from the seventeen year old.

"I've gotta go! My shift should've ended fifteen minutes ago and Ryoka knew that! Bitch." Dominique exclaimed and instantly regretted it when she saw Yuji's expression.

"Ooohhh let me guess, you've arranged to talk to the guy again! Haven't you?" Yuji casually asked, Dominique knowing she didn't have the time to say anything in her defense, quickly nodded. "Well go then. I'll cover for you, even though you've already done your shift."

"Thanks Yuji." Dominique gratefully said and quickly gave a small nod as a sign of respect.

"Now go!" Yuji happily said and Dominique handed Yuji her dish container before running to her car.

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'Made it,' the brunette thought in great relief as she sat down at her desk and turned on her laptop. _God what was I getting so worked up about anyway? It's just some guy! Hmm, all this just after one conversation. Man I am getting soft!_ A smile graced her lips after that thought for the first time for as long as Dominique could remember and it felt good.

End of Chapter 3.

AN: Man three chapters and I only have one review, that sucks so **PLEASE R&R! **I hope everyone enjoyed it and I will update soon.


	4. Blue guy 606's identity

Chapter 4: Blue guy 606's identity

"Aw man today's gonna suck BIIIG time!" Jayne said in a deeply depressed tone as her, Aki & Dominique were all leaning against the wall of their school entrance.

Dominique was looking up at the sky while Jayne spoke those depressing words, Anzu's month suspension was up and today was her first day back. One month had passed since Realistic-girl 412 & Blue guy 606 had begun their email relationship which grew into a deep, meaningful friendship that Aki, Jayne & Daisuke knew about a week after she declined going out for pizza. The three friends were glad that outcome from the "punishment" had grown into something meaningful and what Jayne & Daisuke had betted twenty bucks on; a possible romance.

When the girls spotted a lime-green sports convertible driving into the usual space it always does, they knew they would soon hear the shrieks of Motowa & Amiya greeting their leader of the pack.

"Oh goodie! The bitch is back!" Aki beamed sarcastically.

"Yes. Let the torture begin!" Dominique sarcastically retorted.

"Oh god, someone get me a gun so I can shoot myself in the head before I hear Anzu's bitchy comments!" Jayne pleaded while looking up to the sky.

A minute later when Anzu & her groupies walked past the trio, Anzu said something to her friends and quickly looked away from Dominique, who would've made her smirk had she not noticed the shape Anzu was in; her hair was down to cover most of her face, a blue Yankees cap, the correct presentation of the school uniform with even the skirt just below her knees, a simple denim jacket and a little bit of grey pencil eyeliner. The blonde stopped for a moment and walked up to Dominique, surprising everyone around her.

"Dominique, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for the way that I always treated you and I am sorry to you too, Jayne & Aki." Before the trio could say anything, Anzu ran off with her friends not too far.

"Wow that was weird!" Aki said shocked.

"I know for a moment she acted... like a human!" Jayne exclaimed, but Dominique said nothing as she watched Anzu with her friends.

"She's like me," Dominique softly whispered as a sad smile stained her features.

"What? Trust me, you are NOTHING like that bitch!" Hikari argued.

"You're wrong Aki. She's EXACTLY like me, I just never thought about it until now. When I was fourteen, I was the most popular girl in all of the school but I was the bitchiest as well. I bet everyone felt the same way as me as they feel about Anzu now. That would hurt knowing that but to still go through the day with your head held high, that takes some real balls."

Jayne & Aki both nodded their heads to try and show their acknowledgement, but they both knew that they would never truly understand and although she may have been like that when she was fourteen, they knew that she had matured. She had become realistic and maybe it wasn't one of the best things to posses at times of contemplation & revelations, but it wasn't better than being fucking naive about the situation.

The German's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when her phone announced that she had received an email, smiling at the news, she told her friends that she would meet them in class and walked to the table underneath the big cherry blossom tree. The young girl sat down and read her message by accessing the internet connection on her phone and she smiled when she read the message.

_Blue guy 606: U kno it's bn 4eva since we last talked. It's starting 2 make me think that u're tryin 2 avoid me! _

_Realistic-girl 412: Well i'm sorry, do u suggest that we should now talk b4, during & after skool non-stop?_

_Blue guy 606: Hmmm i was thinking that we should also talk instead of sleeping, who needs the 9hrs of unconsciousness?_

_Realistic-girl 412: Lol i do or else i'll neva b able 2 get my beauty sleep!_

_Blue guy 606: I'm sure u're beautiful without it but i won't kno until i c u. When do u think we could finally meet?_

Dominique blushed at the first sentence but later frowned at Blue guy's question. To be honest, Dominique wasn't sure if she wanted to meet the guy for a numerous amount of reasons mostly because of rejection mixed with a bit of low self-esteem which was a first for the seventeen year old. So instead of making up some reply of soon, Dominique gave an honest answer and quickly turned her phone off when she heard the class bell.

_Realistic-girl 412: When we're in the same city._

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The message sent by Realistic-girl 412 made Shinji Ikari let out a grunt as he heard the class bell, knowing he would get it confiscated if found, Shinji turned it off and put it in his pocket. He was eighteen years old now and had changed for the better. Instead of being some spineless wimp as he considered himself to be, he finally got a clue that he was worthy of living, he knew he could no longer keep his heart hidden away so he opened it up. Of course he could not do it without the help of his friends Touji, Kensuke & Kaworu.

After Asuka had run off, Shinji fell into a deep state of depression and had even thought of suicide until he was greeted by his three best friends Touji, Kensuke and best of all, Kaworu, who had all got out from the red LCL ocean. They comforted Shinji and showed him that whatever happened to them was the cause of Shinji's bastard of a father.

It was a start for Shinji and soon he built a bit of confidence each day but he knew he couldn't live in Tokyo-3 anymore neither could the guys so the moved to Tokyo-1, where they found two bedroom apartment and had been living together ever since.

As time passed more & more people were coming out of the sea of LCL and a civilisation began to form. Now Tokyo-1 is just like it was before Second impact and was thriving with thousands & thousands of human beings, it gave Shinji comfort. So for the past few years Shinji had finally learnt to smile and embrace life.

He worked hard in school which led him to get good grades in class, he did more sport which gave him more self-esteem, got a job by tutoring foreign exchange students to understand the Japanese language & tutoring of how to play the cello and even learnt to play lead guitar.

For the first time since his mother's death, Shinji was happy. Well, almost anyway.

The truth was that Shinji was happy with his life, but he felt life had become more perfect after being forced to join a email buddy program and being set up with Realistic-girl 412, who had became an important person in Shinji's life. Even though he had never seen her face to face Shinji felt like he almost knew her and he so wanted to finally meet her, but she either would change the subject or remind Shinji of the fact that they were both in thousands of kilometres away from each other.

Shinji knew that Realistic-girl 412 did this because she was afraid, though Shinji could not blame her because he felt the same way. I mean wouldn't you be afraid of meeting someone you have talked to for two months and expose your soul to them, then meeting them face to face?

So when he got Realistic-girl 412's latest reply of when they could meet, Shinji wasn't surprised with the reply but he also wondered if it was because Realistic-girl 412 feared that Shinji was some short geek into sci-fi. If it was then Shinji knew that Realistic-girl wouldn't have to worry and as he had the popularity to prove it.

Shinji had grown to the height of 6ft 3, tanned skin, short but spiky dark-brown hair and achieving a solid build as he was apart of the school basketball team, sprinting team and the swimming team after he had been taught by Touji. But what attracted girls most to him was his colbolt-blue eyes making him the most popular guy in all of the school with Kaworu second, Touji third and Kensuke forth.

Kaworu was 6ft 4 with spiky, messy silver-grey hair and is blood-red eyes.

Touji was 6ft 2 with the same ebony-black hair style as he did when he was fourteen and mischievous earthy-brown eyes.

Kensuke was 6ft 1 with a well portioned body because he had been training to get into the army when he was old enough. His skin had a bit more of a tan than when he was fourteen, his hair was rough & messy but lovable light-brown hair and he no longer wore his glasses so everyone could now see the beautiful mineral-green eyes he had.

"Yo Shin' man let's go, it's time for class!" Touji said walking up to his best friend with Kensuke & Kaworu, but when all three noticed that Shinji had his mobile in his hand, they knew what was going on.

"Been talking to Realistic-girl again I see." Kaworu stated with a wide grin on his face.

"Oh yes, the mysterious girl you talk to twenty-four/seven when you should be spending time with your bestest mates!" Kensuke said pretending to look hurt.

"Sorry guys but I can't help it, she's really special! And... I think I maybe getting feelings for her!" Shinji said grinning causing a few shocks, especially from Touji & Kensuke.

"WHAT!" Both asked in horror.

"You've never even met the girl so how could you know who she truly is?" Touji asked but before Shinji could answer Kensuke interrupted.

"Yeah for all you could know is that she maybe some grandma who lives with a bunch of cats down the street from us and is waiting for the right time to strike!" Kensuke said making both him & Touji nod their heads at the possibility but Shinji & Kaworu rolled their eyes.

"Guys, this was organised by schools from all over the country so I highly doubt the possibility."

"Yeah guys leave Shinji alone. It's good that he's talking to girls confidentially since Asu-... well you know what I mean." Kaworu said quickly covering up his mistake. He hoped that he didn't upset his best friend.

"No it's ok. I can't deny it, I miss Asuka." Shinji simply said.

"Though I don't know why you would miss the Devil Asuka, I miss Class rep." Touji admitted with a blush creeping on his cheeks.

"And I miss the First child..." Kaworu sighed out, all three guys seemed depressed when they realised how much they missed their girls.

"Aw man, I don't have a girl to miss!" Kensuke said depressed.

"What about Mana?" Touji asked.

"I never really liked her," Kensuke said truthfully.

"Well don't worry Kensuke, you'll find a girl to miss one day." Kaworu said in a comforting tone.

"Yeah when he matures!" Touji teased.

"You calling me immature! Ha! You're then one to talk! Remember that time with that jar of..."

"Oh god here we go again!" Shinji said rolling his eyes.

"Hey guys knock it off, we've got class!" Kaworu interrupted, Touji & Kensuke agreed and decided they'd start this another time. Yep to Shinji this was the start to another day.

End of Chapter 4.

AN: Please R&R if you liked it and I'm sorry to people who think this is way to cliché but I don't really care. I'll update ASAP when I get a few more reviews, c'ya.


	5. A long night shift

Chapter 5: A long night shift

"Dominique, I need to talk to you NOW!" Ryoka ordered, Dominique let out a soft groan before finishing everyone's orders from table three and giving them to Yuji.

"What is it Ryoka?" Dominique asked, not really in the mood for an argument.

"I got a phone call from your school saying that you are forbidden from attending the Kyoto masquerade ball, is this correct?"

"It may, but what is it to you?" Dominique rudely asked feeling greatly violated that the old fart had given her bitchy boss details about her personal life.

"Well the cafe will be opened on that night for the students. It brings in great money and your next shift will be on that night." Ryoka answered with a smirk on her features which was quite a rare seeing for the waitress, but she knew that her employer would only smirk for either Dominique's pain or someone else's, favourably Dominique's.

"If that's all you have to tell me then I have some customers to attend to," and with that Dominique walked off to Yuji to collect table three's beverages. She was annoyed at the news but not it wasn't worth three tubs of choc-mint ice-cream.

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"So what's the plan?" Touji asked.

"What?" Shinji retorted, confused at what his friend meant.

"How you going to meet this girl you've been talking to for the past few months? Jeez!" Touji said rolling his eyes at his best friend as they, Kensuke & Kaworu were walking down the corridors of their high school, heading home after a long & boring day of school.

"I don't know. I mean every time I try mention the subject of meeting up she totally freaks and reminds me that we are in two very different cities."

"Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey what about meeting her at the... Kyoto masquerade ball!" Kensuke slowly started but returned to normal after reading a poster pinned onto the school notice board.

"The Kyoto masquerade ball?" Shinji asked looking at the phamplet himself.

"Yeah I've heard about it! Apparently it's a huge formal/dance party for all the high schools in Japan but you have to have an outfit & a mask to go with it!" Kaworu informed.

"Tickets on sale now." Kensuke muttered to himself reading the details.

"Well that's perfect! We can go to Kyoto and I can meet Realistic-girl there!" Shinji happily exclaimed.

"Hey we may as well go, there's nothing else to do here." Touji said looking at the gang who all nodded their approval.

"I always wanted to go to Kyoto." Kaworu admitted.

"Yeah and I bet that there'll be tons of babes there!" Kensuke happily said thinking about his camera.

"Well it's agreed... we're going to the Kyoto ball!" Kaworu announced.

"That's great. I'll have to tell Realistic-girl about this!" Shinji happily said, grabbing his phone out of his jeans pocket and started texting.

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_Finally done!_ Sighing contentedly out loud as she put her tray of dirty dishes next to the kitchen boy, however, her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she noticed that her phone had received a message which was in her faded denim messenger bag. Opening her bag, the German grabbed her phone and started reading the message but was shocked when she finished it.

_Blue guy 606: Hey Realistic-girl, guess wat? I'm coming 2 Kyoto!_

Panicked, Asuka instantly texted back to see if it was just a joke or a way to get her attention.

_Realistic-girl 412: Wat!? How!_

_Blue guy 606: Well u kno how the Kyoto ball is on?_

_Realistic-girl 412: Yeah..._

_Blue guy 606: Well our skool is going 2 it so I decided 2 go._

Dominique just stared at his message and at that moment Murphy's Law popped into her head; Anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong at the worst possible time! So Asuka thought her new situation pretty much proved his theory as she now knew that she shouldn't of thought the day could get any worse this day.

_Blue guy 606: I'll b here next week but i guess u would rather meet at the ball itself._

_Realistic-girl 412: Yeah i think that would b better but u hav 2 kno that i-_

_Blue guy 606: Look Realistic-girl, i don't care who u r or wat trend u're apart of as long as u're not a guy._

She gave a loud laugh at his comment and a wicked grin came on her face, she may as well have some fun with the situation.

_Realistic-girl 412: Congratulations! U've just discovered my secret!_

_Blue guy 606: WAT YOU ARE? I'M SO GOIN 2 KICK UR ASS NOW!!_

_Realistic-girl 412: Lol! Relax i'm not a guy and i hav the proof 4 that!_

_Blue guy 606: Ohhh... oops!_

_Realistic-girl 412: Jeez u're quite gullible, u kno that?_

_Blue guy 606: I can't help it, we've bn talking 4 about a month now and now we're meeting up. I just don't want something bad 2 happen._

_Realistic-girl 412: About that, i can't-_

_Blue guy 606: I've g2g but plz come 2 the ball. I really need 2 c u face 2 face, i really need 2 get 2 kno u. I can't stop thinking about u._

Asuka sighed and gave the reply that she would instantly regret.

_Realistic-girl 412: Ok i'll go._

_Blue guy 606: Great! I heard the masquerade is a costume/formal thing, am i rite?_

_Realistic-girl 412: Yeah and every1 must wear their mask until midnite and then they take them off but no 1 is allowed 2 kno ur identity until then._

_Blue guy 606: Hmmm that's going 2 b a bit hard 4 us 2 meet up then._

_Realistic-girl 412: We'll just hav 2 hav a meeting place then. _

_Blue guy 606: Alrite then, how about the middle of the dance floor at 10?_

_Realistic-girl 412: Good enough 4 me. I guess i'll c u then._

_Blue guy 606: Cool i'll c u then. Bye!_

_Realistic-girl 412: C'ya._

"Schiest. Well it looks like I'm gonna need those three tubs of choc-mint ice-cream after all." Dominique thought aloud and searched through her bag to get out her wallet.

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"What? Blue guy wants to meet you?" Jayne asked, shocked at the news Dominique had just told her while playing a game on Aki's PS2 console about some woman getting revenge on a Japanese clan with some wire because they killed her father but she survived.

"Yep and that's not all, he wants to meet me at the Kyoto masquerade ball." Dominique said paying more attention to the game then her conversation. She was sure it was called End of honor but she didn't care, it was the best type of therapy after ice-cream.

"Woah Dominique, you HAVE to go to this dance!" Aki stated as she walked into the room carrying some snacks & drinks for all of them.

"Ah may I need to remind you that I can't go for two reasons: One, the Principal made it forbidden for me to go and if I got caught, I'm in serious shit. And two, even if I didn't get caught I have work that night."

"But the cafe isn't open at that time," Aki said while handing out the drinks.

"Well Ryoka decided to keep it open at that time because it apparently makes good money and when she found out from the Principal that I'm forbidden from going to the dance, well you know how she loves to make my life a living hell."

"Oh man this really sucks! This guy is travelling a long way just so that he can see you and now you can't go? Who was in charge of your luck when you were born seventeen years ago?" Jayne asked.

"I don't know but they suck at it." Dominique replied to her rhetorical question while taking a sip of her drink and watching the TV screen, she had just managed to decapitate a guard. She definitely felt a lot better now.

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"Hey Dominique, I'm sorry to hear that you can't go to the masquerade ball because you have to work." Kaldea said to her flat mate as she leaned against the door frame of Dominique's room.

"Well you know, shit happens." Dominique replied while typing up a science report that was due on Monday.

"Yes but I don't know why you work there. That boss is a total bitch."

Dominique blinked. That was the first time she had ever heard Kaldea swear in the past four years that she had lived with her but then again she was never around to see what her flatmate's new personality was like, although she did get a look at the new range of clothing Kaldea would nowadays wear.

Kaldea wore mostly bright colours such as pink & white with jeans that would show off her curves, one shoulder tops and hill platforms unlike Dominique, who these days wore mostly greens, blues & greys with baggy pants, jeans, long sleeved tops and sneakers. She rarely wore bright colours when she went out nowadays and it was quite difficult to persuade the girl but she didn't care anymore, fancy clothes aren't the most needed necessity in life but it amazed her see how other people's personalities were expressed by their choice of clothing.

First example was Asako, she would wear dark colours of purple & black with any type of clothing that would show off her figure and very uncomfortable shoes to make her look taller showing that she was quite desperate for popularity & acceptance.

Another was Aki who would wear orange & yellow colours of skirts, jeans that would make you look like a celebrity, not-too-revealing tops and boots saying that she was a bright & cheery person who wasn't as innocent as people may see her.

While Jayne wore various colours and basically any type of clothing or shoe revealing that she was cool with anything and was open to new ideas.

People are right. Clothes do make the person.

"Yeah she is but why do care?" Dominique asked getting out of her thoughts on clothing. _She must want something._ Mentally rolling her eyes at what her highly unusual room mate wanted from her.

"Because I care... Asuka."

"Shit Rei, we shouldn't be saying our former names out loud. What happens if someone is listening?"

"Asuka, I highly doubt someone's gonna be walking through that door and be shooting us with their gun."

"They may not be, but you and I both damn well now that SEELE could still be around and just waiting for us to make a mistake so that they can kill us on the spot."

"Look Asuka, you need to lighten up. These past four years all I've seen is you tearing yourself apart! It wasn't your fault Asuka!"

"You weren't there so you have no fucking clue what happened!"

"No I don't but I'd like to because I miss the old Asuka. The one who was confident and never lived in fear. The one who would never run away." Dominique stopped typing and looked up to her room mate, she stood up and looked her in the eye.

"Fuck you, Rei. You have no idea what has gone on with my life so you have no right to give your opinion on the situation!" Asuka whispered before walking out of the apartment.

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"Get table one, eight and eleven's orders then wipe the spare tables, the floors and clean out the coffee machine." Ryoka ordered, it was now Friday night and as promised by Ryoka, Dominique would be working during the dance.

"Sure and is there anything else you would like me to do anything else like solve world hunger?" Dominique sarcastically asked knowing fully well that she would not be punished.

"No but why don't you get a fix up on your attitude?" Ryoka politely asked.

"Oh I'm sorry I don't think I'll have enough time but I could try to get someone who would be sexually attracted to you. Oh sorry, that would take even longer!"

Ryoka was about to same something else but someone was putting up their hand to inform Dominique that her customers were waiting for her.

"Oh and don't forget Dominique, I'll be back by two o'clock. Have fun."

"Well she'll have more fun then the guy whore you'll be purchasing tonight." Yuji said to her sister, Ryoka's cheeks turned pink and made a _Hmph!_ noise before leaving.

"That was a good one Yuji," Dominique complimented.

"Hey I was only speaking the truth!" Yuji innocently exclaimed just then two teenagers Dominique presumed were going to the ball walked in.

The first girl had a dark pink kimono with baby-pink cherry blossoms on it and was tied up with a white belt, the kimono reached to the ground. Dominique caught a glimpse of shoes that the kimono girls wore which were dark pink as well. The girl's mahogany hair was put up into a fancy bun with white chopsticks that had pink and clear beads dangling gracefully down her hair. She had black mascara with light pink eye-shadow and a dark pink lip gloss with a white silky mask with pink melted beads forming cherry blossoms. But with the white & pink cherry blossomed, Japanese styled umbrella with the same jewels from the girl's hair were also dangling from the umbrella and old Japanese styled fan which had a sparrow resting peacefully in a cherry blossom tree. This girl definitely looked like a kimono dancer.

The second girl had a dark purple, sleeved corset dress with lacing for the top part and opened high heels of dark purple. The girl had her hair up in a stylish bun because she was wearing a dark purple hat with white lilies, it covered half off her face but Dominique could see the girl had a dark-purple lacy mask. The girl had dark purple eye shadow as well as mascara of the same colour, lavender coloured lip gloss and old styled gold & black velvet choker.

"So what do you think Dominique?" The kimono girl asked.

"Is that you Asako & Kaldea!" Dominique asked astounded.

"Yep and proud of it! Shame you won't get to go though seeing's though you're such a pretty girl. But then again this is where you belong, not somewhere glamorous like you also said you deserved." Asako said in the rudest tone possible but Dominique had a straight face though it was proving to be quite difficult for her not to right then-and-there punch Mana and give her a lovely black eye to match with her dress.

"Leave her alone, Asako. She's working and we don't want to cause trouble for her." Kaldea gently pleaded, she hated when her friend was rude to Asuka.

"Then why did we even come here in the first place?"

"Because I needed to talk to her, _privately_."

"Fine but hurry up. I don't wanna be in this dump for too long."

Dominique was to give a rude remark but was cut off as Kaldea grabbed her wrist and lead her outside in which, only irritated the girl even more. "Ok what the hell do you want to talk to me about?"

"Look Dominique, I really don't this is fair that you can't go to the dance."

"No shit Kaldea but it's too late now. I don't even have a ticket to get in or a outfit for that matter!"

Kaldea gently grabbed Dominique's hand and looked the girl in the eye. "Well if you decide to go and break the rules as usual just know that the principal will be around the entrance where he can easily see the car park and detect whether you're there or not."

"How do you know this?"

"Let's just say I have my 'sources.'" Kaldea casually answered and gave a wink and before Dominique could say anything else, Kaldea was gone. It took moment for Dominique to realise that something was in her hand, she opened her palm and realised that there was a ticket in her hand for her to go to the dance.

_Shame I have to work though..._ Before walking back inside to realise that Asako had left and must be on her way to the dance with Kaldea now. _Good at lease I don't have to put up with those two anymore but I wonder why Rei was so kind enough to help me even though we're suppose to hate each other? _Dominique questioned in her mind as she looked at the ticket Kaldea bought her.

_Fat lot of use this is! I may as well throw it out._ But as she was about to drop it into the bin something told her to hold onto it. Reluctantly agreeing with herself, Dominique put it in her mobile by pulling the back off it and put her mobile back into her bag and walked to her given tables making Dominique mentally groan.

It was going to be a _long _night.

End of Chapter 5.

AN: This chapter was a lot longer but I decided to cut it into two chapters so I hope everyone enjoyed. Please R&R if you liked it and thank you to everyone who has reviewed.

The game that Dominique (Asuka) was playing was a PS2 game called Red Ninja- End of honor, which I got for Christmas! YAY! (But I'm sure you don't really care.)


	6. Getting Cinderella ready

Chapter 6: Getting Cinderella ready

"So you syched about meeting your _dream girl_, Mr Ikari?" Kensuke slyly asked his friend. At the moment, it was eight o'clock and all the boys were near the entrance watching everyone arriving. The boys noticed a few of teenagers from their school, but the rest they had no clue who they were, they had all been in Kyoto for about a week and they managed to do a lot of site seeing and learn some history about the city.

Meanwhile Kensuke had managed to get a few girls' numbers claiming that he was a big time photographer and that he could make them all famous models which only made Kaworu roll his eyes at how devious his friend would turn out to be as a grown up.

"Of course I am! But I'm freaking out as well. I mean what happens if it doesn't go as I expect? What happens if I'm not what she expects?" Shinji nervously asked opening & clenching his fist, it was a nervous trait of his but he really hated doing it as it reminded him of his days as an Evangelion pilot.

"Dude you need to lighten up a bit. I mean jeez, she's just a chick!" Touji said rolling his eyes at his friend's nervous attitude.

"She's not just a chick! She's my friend and she listens to me."

"What we listen to you!" Both Touji & Kensuke exclaimed in an offended tone.

"Guys, Shinji knows that he can talk to us but he sometimes need to talk to someone else who won't judge him." Kaworu said in a assuring tone making both boys reluctantly nod their heads.

"You know Shinji, you really don't have to worry considering you look like Prince Charming!" Touji said commenting on Shinji's outfit.

Shinji was wearing a royal dark blue & gold overcoat, a golden silk vest with a ascot to match, a white button-up shirt underneath and black pants tucked into his black leather boots while wearing a gold mask covering half his face.

Touji had a gold vest with a white long sleeved, button up shirt underneath tucked into his black trousers, a black cape and his mask was gold making him look like the Phantom of the opera.

Kensuke had his light brown top tucked into his brown trousers with a brown button up vest, a light-brown hooded cape and grey mask shaped as a wolf's face making him look like a villager.

Kaworu had on a black tuxedo with a white bow tie, a black cape with red on the inside, a black top hat and a white mask making him look like Tuxedo mask from Sailor moon.

"Oh well I'll know in two hours," Shinji sighed out awaiting of what would happen.

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"Aw man I've got another five and a half hours of this!" Dominique groaned out to Yuji as she gave table eight's orders to the chef.

"Tell me about it!" Yuji replied to her friend giving her orders from table four as well to the chef.

"Well what sucks about this shift even more is that when I go home I know I won't be able to fall asleep! I just know it!"

"Well don't worry about that Dominique because tonight is one night you'll never forget!" A mysterious girl slyly said as her and her friend entered the cafe.

The girl who spoke had on a silky silver, one shoulder dress that had big splits which went up to her knees all around her dress. Black opened high-heels that had straps tied around her thighs, black gloves that went up to her forearms, a black ribbon choker with a silver moon and black gem earrings that dangled. Her short & layered, auburn hair as usual, flicked up making the girl look like a million dollars along with her choice of make-up which was of black mascara, black eye shadow and clear lip gloss with silver glitter in it. Her mask was the in the shape of a black cat's face with a silver slash on her left eye & silver whiskers, the mask covered half of the girl's face and she also had a pair of black cat ears on her head with silver insiding. The girl looked beautiful & graceful but deadly & wild.

"Yep Dominique once we get you fixed up you'll be the bell of the ball!" The second girl said. She wore a halter style dress made of gold silk with lavender-purple coloured lacing of roses, gold & purple lacy gloves to match and lavender-purple open high-heels that had a diamonte star shaped flower on each shoe. Her jewellery was a lavender purple ribbon choker with a gold sun attached to it and a simple pair of gold studs holding amethysts. The girl had glittering light purple eye shadow with black mascara and glittery-yellow wet shine lip gloss. Her burnt sienna hair had been curled and a real yellow rose was placed in the girl's ponytail (while still having her hair down) but what really gave the girl her effect was her gold mask with lavender-purple coloured lacing of roses making her look like a character from Phantom of the Opera.

"Oh. My. God. Is that you? Aki? Jayne!" Yuji asked.

"Who else do you think would be as pretty as us?" Jayne asked innocently in her cat styled outfit.

"You two look so amazing! I wish I could see everyone's reactions when they see you but as you know, I'm working tonight," Dominique said with a sad smile before resuming her job of taking her tables' orders.

"What are you talking about? You are going to this dance!" Aki said.

"Well I would love to let you take Dominique to this dance but unfortunately she has work tonight-" Yuji started but was interrupted by Jayne.

"But Yuji, Blue guy 606 is in Kyoto and wants to meet Dominique tonight at the dance!"

"The guy, Dominique's been talking to more often then expected because she's totally fallen for him?" Yuji asked shocked, receiving a nodded response from both Aki & Jayne.

"I have not fallen for him! He's just my friend, that's all." Dominique replied defensively which only got her three friends to roll their eyes at her denial.

"Well if Blue guy is here then that's completely different! Dominique, you're going to that dance." Yuji said.

"Guys how many times do I have to tell you? I'm FORBIDDEN! F-O-R-B-I-D-D-E-N to go or else I'm in serious trouble!"

"Since when did that ever stop you?" Aki asked looking at her as if she were an idiot.

"Since this is my final year of school and I have to apply for uni soon." Dominique replied in a 'It's-so-obvious' tone.

"Come on Dominique, no one is ever gonna notice or find out for that matter because of one little detail: It's a masquerade ball! So no one's gonna know who's who." Jayne explained to her as if she was a little kid.

"I can't go anyway because if Ryoka found out, she would kill me then bring me back to life to make me clean up the mess!"

"Relax Dominique. I'll make sure that you'll be back before Ryoka comes back and if she does find out and tries to harm you... then Christmas will come early," Yuji reassured, smiling at the thought.

"Although it's tempting, I still think it's best if I don't go."

"Lighten up a little, Dominique. You're seventeen years old but all I ever see you do is work & study, you so rarely get to have time for yourself," Yuji stated.

"Yeah Dominique, you never have time for yourself and you deserve it after all the one-hundred percent effort you always put into everything!" Aki whined.

"Come on Dominique, I know that you won't regret this." Jayne said and the three women kept stating their point until she finally gave in.

"ALRIGHT!" She yelled, gaining a bit of attention from the customers but she didn't care. She could feel a migraine coming on unless she got her friends to shut up. "You know, you guys are right. I never get to do this kind of stuff and although I hate it, it doesn't mean that I would miss it for the world seeing's though Blue guy will be there. I'm going to this dance no matter what!" Dominique happily declared and her friends cheered for her happiness but suddenly became down hearted when she realised something.

"What's wrong Dominique?" Yuji asked.

"I don't have costume!"

"Ah but we do. Come on we'll get it for you!" Jayne said and grabbed her friend's hand to lead her to Aki's yellow, Volkswagen convertible beetle.

Jayne opened the boot but horror soon came upon her face. "It's not here!"

"WHAT! Are you sure it isn't there?" Aki asked.

"Everything else is here but the dress isn't!" Jayne exclaimed feeling upset at their luck.

"The dress isn't here?" Dominique asked, upset about the news.

"No Dominique, I'm so sorry. Aki, I told you to get it before we were out the door!" Jayne growled and the teenagers started a rather heated argument while Yuji stared at the mask that laid there.

The mask was covered in beautiful blood-red silk with golden silk rimming around the mask and the eyes which would bring out the colour in the occupant's eyes and a gold ribbon tied to the occupant's right eye giving them a look of grace but it gave Yuji an idea.

"I'm sorry! Can't we just go back and get the dress?" Aki asked.

"No by the time we get the dress and get Dominique ready, it'll be too late!" Jayne answered.

"Aw man this is bullshit! Why did this have to happen to ME?" Dominique asked out loud to the sky.

"Well as people say: When a door closes, a window opens and I've just found our window." Yuji slowly but happily said, keeping her eyes on the mask that Jayne made.

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"Hurry up Dominique, we have to do your hair and make-up!" Aki speaking loudly to her friend whilst banging the bathroom door.

"Sorry guys but you know how hard it is to remove self-tan lotion even in today's technology!" Dominique yelled out over the running water of her shower.

Some would call it just water coming out of a tap for their disposal and some may call it artificial rain but to Dominique it was her safe haven, completely drowning out the worries & hassles of realities. To Asuka it was like being a baby inside it's mother's womb. The same feeling she would get every time she entered the Eva that consumed her mother's soul, but she knew she couldn't hold onto that regret of losing her mother again, after all the destruction of Unit 02 had set her mother's soul free.

No matter how much sorrow Asuka had gone through for her childhood, she knew deep inside it was time for her to let go, as Misato had once said to her as they watched the beautiful sunset at the hot springs they went to after Asuka's attempt to catch a real live angel. She had almost died that day if it weren't for Shinji jumping into the volcano and retrieving her.

_Stupid Invincible Shinji, he is the reason why I suffer everyday!_ She wanted to punch the tiled wall of the shower out of frustration but she knew the consequences would be a broken hand and she knew that she definitely didn't want that just because she remembered Shinji. _I wonder where that spineless coward is now? _She continued to think as she turned off the shower taps and began drying herself. _Probably running away into a small corner, as usual. Coward._

_I wonder where those other two stooges are as well? Are they with their third member? I wonder. I wonder if Hikari still has the hots for Touji, what a dumb ass!_ She mentally rolled her eyes at the thought of her best friend falling for the dick head they had once went to school with as she brushed her hair and put on some clean underwear that she kept in her bag in case of emergencies. Then wrapping herself with Yuji's white bathrobe, she then braced herself for what was to come and opened the door where she was greeted by her two adolescent friends and pulled into a chair to be bombarded with hair products by Aki & make-up by Jayne.

Half an hour later Dominique, Jayne & Aki were all sitting down on Yuji's couch while she was searching for something very important for tonight. Dominique had her hair all down up nicely, her make-up was perfectly applied and her jewellery matched perfectly with her creamy skin. Her hair was curled which made her hair reach up to her chest and had been put up the way it use to be when she was fourteen, but instead of her interference clips holding up her hair it was two real blooming roses tied to two red ribbons that draped gracefully down her chocolate brown hair.

For make-up Dominique had black mascara, red eye shadow and red lip gloss making her look simple but elegant. For jewellery Dominique had a red ribbon choker with a gold star on it, square cut gold earrings with rubies embedded and for shoes, Dominique had a pair of golden silk, opened high heels that criss-crossed across her feet and stopped up to her ankles in which there was a golden star encrusted with rubies on each shoe.

"You look so beautiful. It's amazing!" Aki said.

"Yes but wait until she gets this dress on, then she'll be amazing I tell you!" Yuji said as she walked into the living room with a big box in her hands, she placed it on the coffee table and reminisced for a moment before speaking again. "Well you all know how Ryoka screwed me over by claiming everything that belonged to our parents. Well what you don't know is that I had managed to get this dress quickly out of the house before Ryoka could grab her greedy claws on it. I fixed it up a bit and this is the result." Yuji proudly declared and took the lid off making the three girls gasp at the beauty of Yuji's dress.

"This belonged to your mother?" Dominique asked stunned.

"Actually, _grandmother_. It's a tradition for every woman of the new family generation to wear the dress at the Kyoto masquerade ball because when my grandmother wore it, she had found love at first sight: Grandpa. Anyway they got married a few years later and had been happily married for many years. When grandma gave it to mum, mum too found the love of her life and when it was her sister's turn she found love as well, even Ryoka found love when it was her turn."

"You mean that someone fell for Ryoka! God I feel sorry for the poor guy," Jayne said.

"Now girls, Ryoka wasn't like that when she was younger. Actually she was one of the sweetest women you could've ever meet. Soon she and her love were married and they had twins, a boy & a girl but after that strange occurrence three years ago... well you know what happened to most of the population that day." Yuji sadly said making the girls feel ashamed of themselves.

Noticing the sudden hit of depression on the girls, Yuji quickly changed the subject. "Oh well let's forget about that and let's get this dress on you, Dominique it's nine-thirty!"

"I can't wear that dress. It's too beautiful, I-" Dominique started but was interrupted by Yuji.

"Of course you can Dominique and I really want you to!"

"Why?" Dominique softly asked making Yuji sigh.

"Because when it was my time to wear the dress I never got to because I didn't want to go, so I didn't and I deeply regret it. I had missed out on something so great but I didn't believe in the family tradition so I went to work instead. If I had gone... then maybe we wouldn't be here now," Yuji softly said contemplating with Dominique following her action a moment later.

"Thank you," Dominique softly whispered.

"You're welcome. Now come on, you have a dance to go to!" Yuji reminded.

"Are you ok with this Jayne? I mean with wearing Yuji's dress and not yours..."

"No I'm totally cool with it. Besides my dress was probably too small for you." Jayne playfully said and laughed when her friend gave a shout of protest. "I'm just kidding. Now get that dress on, your Prince Charming is waiting for you!"

"Ah yes and I'm his Princess!"

"Well hurry up Cinderella and let's go!" Aki said making Dominique nod her head making she picked up the dress and was handed her mask by Yuji before going into Yuji's bedroom to change.

A moment later Dominique walked out room making her friends' mouths agape at the beauty before them which made Dominique blush and she shifted from foot-to-foot at the discomfort she was feeling. "Is it too dressy?"

"No... it's just that you look so amazing!" Jayne spoke up.

"Wow who would've thought an anti-social girl like you would look so incredible?" Aki jokingly asked.

"Not me!" Dominique laughed.

"I have to take a photo of this! Let me get the camera and then you can go." Yuji said before quickly rushing to the cupboard and getting the digital camera. "Smile," and she took the photo.

In the photo there was a girl like cat on the right resting her back on her friend while showing her claws to the camera, a girl on the left pretending to be a damsel in distress and in the middle was a girl with half of her back turned to the camera but still managing to show the most beautiful smile anyone could of ever seen.

When looking at the photo, the viewer would've realised that the girl was dressed as Cinderella. But to those who truly knew her, they knew that she didn't need that dress to prove it.

End of Chapter 6.

AN: I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter and I'll update soon. I did have this chapter & the previous one finished a while ago but because of the Christmas holidays I didn't really have time to update. Thanks for people who've reviewed and if you haven't then, please do!


	7. At my most beautiful

Chapter 7: At my most beautiful

"You know with the way you're fidget, some would say that you're nervous!" Aki spoke with a sly smirk across her features as she and her two companions walked to the entrance of the masquerade ball. Dominique frowned at her friend's amusement of the situation that was yet to come.

"Well excuse me, Aki, if I should be acting like this is all going to hell because I'm going to meet the person, a complete stranger may I add! Who I've been showing a deeper side that I would never show to anyone unless they were close, for the past month!" Dominique sarcastically said making Aki & Jayne feel a bit of sympathy for the young girl.

"Well if it's any consolation to you, Dominique, if it's going real shit then text us and we can leave. Speaking of which, how will you be able to know when we have to leave before the unveiling of the masks?" Jayne curiously asked, her question was answered as Dominique revealed her mobile attached shoe.

"I activated the alarm so it'll go off at five to twelve," Dominique answered. She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath and the trio continued their journey but they stopped in their tracks at the realisation of their tickets as they saw their principal punching them.

"Shit! I forgot about the tickets! I have one but what about you guys?" Jayne muttered out keeping her eyes focused on the principal.

"I have one but Dominique doesn't." Aki sadly answered but for Dominique, a smile appeared making her two friends curious of what there was to smile about. To answer their question, Dominique opened the back of her phone and pulled out a small yellow card.

"How'd you get that?" Aki asked astonished, Dominique hadn't asked either of the girls to buy a ticket and there was no way she would've been able to buy it, unless someone like Daisuke got it for her.

"With the generosity of Kaldea." Dominique casually replied walking off leaving her two friends behind stunned at what they had just heard.

"Good evening ladies. Lovely night isn't it?" The principal asked making Dominique feel a tad bit nervous but she remained calm, after all this guy was a complete dumb ass.

"Yes it is. Wouldn't you say guys?" Jayne cheerfully asked, the girls nodded in agreement.

"Well you all look very lovely tonight and... hmmm... you look familiar young lady. Have we met before?" The principal suspiciously asked Dominique.

"No I'm sorry unless you've ever been to America before." Dominique said in a over rated American accent.

"Yeah this is my cousin from America, she's a transfer student." Aki said playing along with her friend.

"Oh! Are you having a good time in Japan?" He happily asked.

"Ya, I'm having sooo much FUN!" Dominique happily replied, if the principal wasn't here Jayne & Aki would've of laughed their asses off at their friend's terrible impersonation of an American teenager.

"Well I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and have a good night." He said and greeted the next set of students, the girls all heaved out a huge breath of relief as they walked away from the entrance.

"That was close!" Aki commented.

"Way too close for my comfort!" Jayne replied in a quiet tone.

"Hey the worst is behind us now so let's just chill!" Dominique said cheerfully.

"Jeez Dominique, what happened to the 'I-don't-wanna-be-here-because-I'm-gonna-look-like-a-total-spastic-infront-of-my-Prince-Charming' attitude you were in before? Hmmm?" Jayne asked, annoying Dominique because of her friend's lack of empathy.

"I didn't want to come because of that! I didn't want to come because I was afraid that I'd get caught and that I'd lose my job at the cafe!"

"Let it go you two. We're here to have fun! Dominique, I know you're scared shitless meeting this guy and I'm going to kick the crap out of myself tomorrow for being cliché by saying this, but just be yourself and Blue guy will see the great person that you are. And if he doesn't see that then he's a complete dick head and I'll deck him!" Aki said smiling making Dominique do the same, grateful to have two friends like Aki & Jayne.

"Thanks you guys. I know I'm gonna hate myself for getting all girlie, but I appreciate everything you two do just to make me smile." Dominique gently said making her friends smile at their friend's confession.

"Oh god Dominique! You just made us have a chick-flick moment!" Jayne groaned, while Aki checked Dominique's temperature for any sign of a fever.

"Ha ha very funny!" Dominique sarcastically said.

"Relax Dominique, we feel the same." Aki said making the girls form a small group hug and laughed a moment afterwards.

"It's time." Jayne gently said making Dominique give a nod of acknowledgment of what had to be done.

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"Man I'm sooooo bored!" Touji whined after taking another sip from his fifth can of coke. Him, Kensuke & Kaworu had all agreed to wait until Shinji's date arrived but in Touji's opinion it didn't look too good for Shinji. Which although he didn't want to admit, angered Touji at the thought of Shinji getting hurt.

Today Touji still cringed at remembering the guilt of punching Shinji twice when he was only new to the school, so now Touji did whatever he could to make it up to Shinji because he knew now that Shinji never wanted to do it for attention, he did it to protect humanity with the sacrifice of his happiness.

To remove the stains of insecurity within his soul but they would always come back after an angel attack and Shinji would once again be left broken. It wasn't Shinji's fault they way things would turn out but he would always blame himself for it. Shinji hated it piloting Eva, it wasn't fame & admiration, it wasn't something you would be proud to brag about and Touji knew that bitter sting from experience as the Fourth Child.

Eva was a curse, something that could never end well for a person.

Everyone that ever came into contact with Eva had lost something valuable and Touji paid his price of literately, an arm & a leg. Luckily he managed to get his real limbs back after Third Impact but he knew it didn't make Shinji feel any better. No matter how much Touji explained to him that he was not responsible for his near-death and that he was grateful for Unit 01 destroying Unit 03 as it would've killed thousands of lives, the bitter guilt would always be there to sting Shinji everytime he looked at the scars of his friend and knew that it was his Eva responsible for them.

But even though it was Unit 01 that nearly killed him, Touji never blamed Shinji for it.

"Well I thought you'd be dancing with some girl right about now!" Kaworu said breaking Touji out of his train of thought and acted casual towards his friends.

"None of them really catch my ey- who is that?" Touji asked gawking at the figure standing on top of the stairs. Other people soon began to look in the same direction as Touji all pointing & commenting the figures beauty, Shinji could feel his jaw gaping.

The girl stood on top of the stairs as she was trying to find someone and Shinji felt his heart beating increase, _Could it be her?_ Silently praying that the angel-like figure was his date.

The mysterious girl looked so perfect as she stood in her gorgeous dress of red & gold. The dress had a gentle red for the billowing skirt making it a ballroom style, the top part was a corset made of blood-red silk, it was tied at the back with gold ribbon in a criss-cross style, it had triangle gold flower lace as rimming sewn inside the dress. The highlight of the dress though was the hundreds of small gold tube beads that were sewn in any random direction making the dress sparkle and with her red silk mask with gold rimming & a gold bow ribbon attached to the side of her right eye, she looked so amazing, the next moment a spot light shone upon her making her glitter of red & gold.

_I've found a way to make you _

She quickly looked up to see where the light was coming from and wondered if fate wanted everyone to witness the girl's presence. So with a moment of thought, she took in deep breath & prayed in her mind that she would not fall in front of all these people. She then gently lifted up a portion of her dress and began walking down the steps as music gently played through the speakers while her two best friends watched in pride. They both wore a smile of all memories they shared with her and Dominique smiled with them. First a shy one but soon brightened into a confident one with every step she took with the light never leaving her for a single moment.

_  
I've found a way  
A way to make you smile_

Once Dominique had finished the flight of steps the light instantly disappeared as well as everyone's attention but Shinji still stared at the girl. He had to talk to her, hear her voice, even if he had to give some lame excuse, he had to talk to her to see if she was the one he had been waiting for.

_I read bad poetry  
Into your machine  
I save your messages  
Just to hear your voice  
_

"Woo now that's one fine lady! If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I think I'll be making my move on her." Touji casually said, he was about to walk over to her but was stopped in his tracks by Kaworu.

"Sorry Touji but this one's too fine to be messed around with! Go ahead Shinji." Kaworu said with a smile, Shinji gave a nod of gratitude and followed the girl into the middle of the dance floor, while Kaworu received a whack in the chest from Touji.

"What did you do that for Kaworu? I could've had her by now!" Touji said annoyed that he wasn't able to get the girl.

"Unfortunately that's most likely but there's something about that girl that seems familiar to me..." Kaworu softly said, desperately trying to remember from where.

"Never mind about her, who's _that_ girl?" Kensuke asked pointing to Jayne while she was talking to Aki. Touji soon lost all interest of the girl in red & gold and gained interest in the girl who looked like a character from Phantom of the opera.

Kensuke was the first to walk over to the two girls, feeling extremely nervous he mustered all the courage he could and spoke beautiful girl in the silver feline mask. "Uh hi, I know this sounds stupid and you probably wouldn't want to but wouldyouliketodancewithme?"

Jayne stared at the boy, shocked that she had been asked for a dance in such a short period of time and she would've liked to considering his appearance but she refused to leave Aki by the punch bowl for the whole evening but Aki had already answered for her. "She would love to dance."

Kensuke wore a goofy grin and it made Jayne smile at the boy's response, Kensuke offered his hand to her and she took it as he lead them to the dance floor. Aki smiled for her friend's happiness but it faltered as she realised that she would be by herself all night then she smiled once again when she heard a male's voice behind her asking the same question that had been asked a moment ago.

"Um excuse me, miss but would you like to uh... uh... dance with me?" Touji asked Aki, she turned around to face the questioner and felt a sense of familiarity but she quickly shrugged it off and said yes.

"Excuse me but do you have the time?" A gentle voice asked interrupting Kaworu's train of thought as he watched all of his friends with members of the opposite sex. He turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful kimono dancer standing there in hope of an answer from him, Kaworu wore a big smile and told her it was ten o'clock.

"Thank you," Kaldea said and was about to walk off when Kaworu asked if she would give him the pleasure to dance. Astounded, Kaldea nodded and Kaworu happily lead her to the dance floor where the other dozens & dozens of couples danced with their partners.

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_I knew this was a stupid idea!_ Dominique angrily thought as she continued standing in the middle of the dance floor. Not only did she feel like a loser because she was surround by dancing couples but an idiot for believing that this guy was interested in her, she irritation only worsened when her nearly fall to the ground because some careless idiot bumped into her.

"Hey watch it dick head!" Dominique sharply to the guy who had beige pants, black boots to the knees, a red velvet overcoat with a gold cross on it, beige hat with huge feathers or red & white, a fake mustache & fake curly black wig, a sword fastened on the side and a red velvet mask with gold rimming making him look like a musketeer.

"Sorry miss, I didn't-" the guy rambled on with his apologies but Dominique's anger quickly vanished as she realised who it was.

"Daisuke?"

"Yes?" He asked uneasily hoping that the girl would not physically harm him.

"Daisuke it's me, Dominique!" She whispered to Daisuke but it was hard because of the blaring music.

"Dominique! What are you doing here? You're gonna get in so much trouble if you get caught-"

"I know but I trust you won't tell anyone."

"Of course I won't, but how did you even manage to sneak in? The principal is at the entrance punching tickets & greeting students!"

"It's a long story but anyway onto to more important things, you're looking good! Are you gonna ask Asako to dance?"

"I wish. You know this is a masquerade ball, no one knows who's who. I'm surprised you were even able to recognise me!"

"Daisuke, it's not hard to recognise you because there is no one that apologises as much as you do when you stuff up in front of women. Well actually there was someone else back when I was fourteen, but let's not get into that! Asako is the one in the purple corset wearing a big purple hat with white lilies on it. Speaking of which, she's right over there!" Dominique pointed out for Daisuke, he thanked her and placed a gentle kiss upon her silk-like cheek before running over to Asako.

Dominique smiled at her friend as Asako gladly took Daisuke's hand, but her happy smile turned into a sad one as she noticed once again that everyone had someone except for her. She sighed and was about to walk off when she heard a soothing voice give her a small but meaningful question.

"Are you Realisitic-girl 412?" The voice asked Dominique, her body stiffened for a moment but she closed her eyes and she turned around, bracing herself to face the one that she had been waiting for. She slowly opened her emerald eyes and they slightly widened at the handsome young man facing her.

"Yes I am that girl. Realistic-girl 412, it's nice to meet you, Blue guy 606." Dominique said with a graceful smile upon her face and once again Shinji could feel his jaw gaping.

_You always listen carefully  
To awkward rhymes  
You always say your name  
Like I wouldn't know it's you  
At your most beautiful  
_

"The pleasure is all mine. It's nice to finally meet you. Well it looks I was definitely right when I said that you didn't need nine hours of unconsciousness, you're completely beautiful." Shinji playfully said and a blush appeared across Dominique's cheeks as she wore another one of her million dollar smiles, Shinji felt like he was the Casanova of all time.

_I've found a way to make you  
I've found a way  
A way to make you smile  
_

"It's way too noisy here! Would you like to take a stroll with me?" Shinji politely asked, bowing like a true gentleman and offered his hand to her. Dominique let out a small giggle and took his hand, as they walked past all the couples Shinji took in every detail of the beauty that had given him the privilege of holding her small, lithe hand and began realising that he was falling for her.

_At my most beautiful  
I count your eyelashes, secretly  
With every one, whisper I love you  
_

Neither needed to say anything as they continued walking but they both wore contented smiles and it stayed that way until they had finally reached their destination. Dominique was astounded at the view that laid before them. A soft field of green grass as far as the eye could see was illuminated by the silver moonlight giving a blue tinge, the crescent moon shined like a gorgeous silver pearl with diamonds for stars scattered all over the dark-blue silk known as the night sky and the gentle ribbon waters of the big lake moved danced gracefully creating a sense of serenity.

_I let you sleep  
I know you're closed eye watching me  
Listening  
I thought I saw a smile_

"It's beautiful," Dominique whispered, closing her eyes to take in the scene.

"Like you," Shinji whispered back making a sly grin spread across Dominique's features, opening her eyes and locked eyes with the man, whom she'd been lucky enough to be in the same presence.

"What are you trying to do, win my heart with lame pick up lines?" Dominique jokingly asked.

"Is it working?" He simply asked and Dominique's smile was replaced with surprise for his question but she didn't answer. Instead she just locked her eyes into his colbolt-blue eyes while Shinji stared into her eyes of sparkling emerald and small smile graced upon both's lips.

_I've found a way to make you  
I've found a way  
A way to make you smile  
_

End of Chapter 7.

AN: YES! I've FINALLY updated!!! Yay me! I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time but I hope you guys liked this chapter (yes I know it's very WAFF but this is Evangelion with a Cinderella plot!) I used R.E.M.'s "At my most beautiful" because I thought of it as a very peaceful yet romantic song, I like a lot of their songs because they give you this very powerful emotional response.

Also I noticed that in one of the reviews from "Insert Super Cool Name here" asked why I made all the characters perfect, well it's because well... they're anime characters, they always get perfect bodies (which I envy) and I have never seen a fat character anime character before (or maybe there is but I'm just too lazy to find it!) Please R&R if you liked it and thanks to people who've reviewed, I'll try to update asap! Water-Star.


	8. A bittersweet evening

Chapter 8: A bittersweet evening

"Maybe," Dominique playfully answered, making it Shinji's turn to be surprised but he quickly regained his composure and took her hand again to start walking again to their destination leaving Dominique breathless at the view, there was small hill with a big cherry blossom tree peacefully resting on top. The branches of the old tree gently swayed to the cool breeze in a graceful matter and the scent of cherry blossoms filled the area with a pleasant fragrance, Dominique began to wander if she was under some magic spell just waiting to be broken at any moment.

"Wow!" Was the only thing that Dominique could say to describe how she felt, Shinji chuckled at her expression because it was his expression too when he had first seen this place a few days ago by incident. He discovered the place when he was looking around to see where the masquerade would be held and knowing that it wasn't too far from the venue, he decided he would take Realistic-girl 412 here.

"Yeah it's amazing isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Dominique softly answered and sat underneath the tree to observe the view as Shinji had thought, but Dominique's needed to sit down as her feet were starting to feel cramped after wearing her high heels for so long. _Argh, why couldn't I wear my work shoes like I insisted to Jayne? They would've been a lot more comfortable and be easier to run in. _Looking at her feet, she knew that she couldn't stand wearing them for another moment, she began to undo the straps and Shinji noticed this.

"Did walking on the grass make your feet hurt?" He asked, a pang of guilt hit him for not considering the difficulty of their walk with her choice of footwear.

"Yes but I can't wearing heels for long, they make my feet hurt, grass or no grass." Which was true, Dominique hadn't worn heels for this long since she was fourteen but even then they were only small heels. "High heels aren't really my thing."

"Really? I thought all girls loved wearing high heels because it made them taller!"

"Well in case you haven't notice, I'm not really lacking in height!" Said Dominique and another smile appeared upon her lips. "Why don't you sit down with me? It's nice sitting on the grass."

Shinji looked at her and sat down with in front of her, she looked at for a moment and hugged her knees to her chest while staring into the night sky wearing a content smile, Shinji continued looking at her in complete fascination. "So Realistic-girl, we haven't really spoken, only just the small talk!"

"You're right but it feels like we've already spoken so much!" Dominique exclaimed and mentally slapped herself for sounding so lame but Shinji didn't mind.

"I know it's so strange! I feel like we've known each other for so long!"

"Yeah... me too!"

"Listen to us! We sound like a couple of soapie actors!" Dominique laughed, it was a beautiful gift to hear because it was filled with pure innocence, just like a child's. "So Realistic-girl, we may as well talk or all of this would've been in vain!" Shinji knew that wasn't true at all but he felt that he should at least know a bit more about her, Dominique just nodded and spoke in a gentle voice.

"Okay Blue guy, what is it that you want to know about me?"

"Well let's play twenty questions. I'll ask ten and you do the same."

"Fair enough, you first."

"Ok well..." Shinji started and began tracing the soft grass with his fingers as he thought of a question, after a moment he came up with one. "What's your favourite colour?"

"A very cliché question don't you think?"

"Hey I couldn't think up of another one! So what is it?"

"My favourite colour is red but I also like the colour blue. My turn, what would you have done if I wasn't what you expected me to be?"

"Hey aren't you going to ask me what's my favourite colour?"

"Well if it was green then you wouldn't of named yourself Blue guy now would you?"

"I suppose your right. Well, that leaves you with seven questions left!"

"What do you mean? I only asked one question, the other two don't count!"

"Six."

"Argh! Well then you have eight questions left so answer mine!"

"Alright! I wouldn't of been disappointed and I'd still be having this conversation with you because I wasn't expecting you to be anything but yourself."

"Ohhh real smooth!" She complimented.

"Thank you, my turn. What would have you of done I wasn't what you expected me to be?"

"I wouldn't have been as surprised as I was but still would have been glad to have finally met you. Ok "fifth" question, what's your star sign?"

"Gemini. Yours?"

"Sagittarius."

"Ah the fiery one!"

"You got it!" Dominique said and smoothed out the creases of her dress as she began thinking about her next question, but to Dominique it was difficult to figure out all the questions she secretly kept locked into her mind and still be satisfied with an answer. "Did you really get stuck in this email pals program because you wanted to or did you really just call your teacher an old hag?"

"You want the real truth?" He asked, she nodded. "The real reason I was forced into this program was because one of my friends got caught hacking into confidential government info! I knew he would be in serious trouble if he got caught but because I had close connections I knew that I would get away with it so I took the fall." And that was completely true, when Kensuke did get caught Shinji knew that because he was an ex-Evangelion pilot, the government were in his debt so they'd let him off easily.

"But how come the government didn't send you to jail or something?" Dominique asked, regretting her question instantly. This guy was more complex than she thought and for some reason, she didn't want to know. She just wanted to keep her impression of him as a sweet, handsome young man that was actually succeeding in winning her affection, to keep this night as an illusion but sadly you don't always get what you want in life.

"My parents were involved with a military project. My mother died during the process and my father abandoned me not too soon afterwards. I just working was his only escape from reality, I knew that he did love me as a son in his own strange way but we were never able to create a close bond as he died a few years ago during that weird explosion that affected the whole of humanity." Shinji sadly answered, remembering the only thing the fragile relationship between him and his father shared was their love for Yui. He could still feel the regret of never being able to become closer with his father and the anger he held for that day when Third Impact occurred, but he still remembered the happiness he had felt when his mother had finally been freed from the beast that kept her soul within it's core, knowing that was worth the small wounds he kept hidden within his soul.

Dominique just stared sadly into his features as his eyes were gazing upon the lake. She understood his pain, then she realised all those years when she was cold & brash, pushing others away from her, she had been selfish because she thought that her mother had abandoned her like everyone else would but after awakening from her coma inside her Eva and discovering the truth, she knew that Kyoko did indeed love her daughter. So much in fact, she sacrificed her sanity & life to protect her daughter, and even if it had hurt Asuka for so long that her mother left her, Asuka figured it out in the end.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I know what it's like to lose a mother and have your father abandon you, it took me to ten years to finally let go. Even though I don't know the whole father issue, I'm sure he loved you." Dominique gently said, once again surprising Shinji at the complexity of this girl and he smiled, giving her a nod of gratitude for her to be so gracious to comfort him with her understanding & comforting words.

"Hey you've got three questions left!" Shinji said in hope of changing the depressing subject.

"Yeah but you've got five left!"

"Alright I'll go then! What do you plan on doing after high school?"

"Go to university. I'm not sure of which one just yet but as long as I'm with my friends then I'm fine."

"I never really thought of you being the type to choose yours friends over education! What's the deal with that?"

Some would've been offended with that question but Dominique understood what he meant and answered the question with no trace of rudeness or sarcasm. "Besides you, I only have three friends in this world and they're so important to me. Two are my age and we share everything & do everything, we're basically like sisters. My other friend someone that I work with, she's like a second mother to me! I don't really get the privilege of having many friends so I treasure the ones that I have! Oh god that sounded so... GIRLIE! GOD!"

Shinji laughed at the girl's reaction to her sentimental moment and knew that saying something like that was not easy to confess to someone unless they were close enough to make her not fear. Before Shinji could give a comment about Dominique's attitude towards sentimentalism, he heard gentle notes playing through the air and realised that it was coming from the venue. Shinji stood up, confusing Dominique but when she saw him offering his hand to her, Dominique could instantly hear notes of soft music caught in the gentle breeze that blew upon her exposed porcelain skin. She suppressed the urge to shiver, fearing it could be a sign telling her something would soon change between them and she should get out while she had the chance, but she ignored her womanly intuition.

"Will you, Realistic-girl grant me the pleasure of this dance?" He slyly asked, hoping she would not laugh at him for his poor attempt to bow like gentleman and refuse his one wish.

"Yes I will but this counts as a question!" She playfully replied, grateful for freeing her from her burdening thoughts.

"Fair enough." He said back and helped Dominique get upon her feet, Shinji slightly blushed when he felt her small hand go into his, wrapping his arm around the small of her back while she placed her free hand upon his shoulder for leverage. Both looked into each other's eyes and began dancing to the soothing notes that possessed their souls.

Shinji listened intently to the words of the song that offered him the courage to ask the young woman that he held to dance but he knew it was not necessary as he replayed the song into his stereo for a thousand times. The song had always reminded Shinji of Asuka, the song's lyrics had given him hope that one day he would be reunited with Asuka as this was the meaning to the song, but he was only fourteen at the time and severely depressed from the occurrence of breaking down in front of Asuka after attempting to take away her life only after just being resurrected.

That act had caused her to leave Tokyo-3 and his already crumbling world, remembering those times made him realise how stupid & childish his fourteen year old persona really was. Back then Shinji tried to hide himself for fearing rejection so he cocooned himself into a thick, warm layers of make-believe fantasy but after Third Impact Shinji had to slowly and painfully rip those comforting layers away to face reality. Because in reality there's no such thing as fairy tales, until Realistic-girl 412 that is.

_This time, this place  
Misused, mistakes  
Too long, too late  
Who was I to make you wait?  
Just one chance  
Just one breath  
Just in case there's just one left  
Cause you know  
You know, you know  
_

She had given Shinji a different perspective on reality, it didn't turn him all sentimental with the idea of "anything is possible" crap into his mind but it gave him hope. Hope that although fairy tales don't exist in reality, love is something that you could grasp onto. So the song drifting through the cool wind and into their souls was no longer aching Shinji's heart of false hope but showing him that love will come to those one day. Although it may take your whole life for it to finally enter your heart, it'll eventually come in the end no matter what the effects will be or how many times you try to deny it.

_That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I miss you  
Been far away for far too long  
I keep dreaming you'll be with me  
And you'll never go  
Stop breathing if  
I don't see you anymore  
_

"You're really good at dancing! Have you ever danced before?" Dominique asked, interrupting Shinji's thoughts. He smiled at her and knew that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid eyes on, but it was more than that; he was sure that he was falling for her.

_On my knees, I'll ask  
Last chance for one last dance  
Cause with you, I'd withstand  
All of hell to hold your hand  
I'd give it all  
I'd give for us  
Give anything but I won't give up  
'Cause you know  
You know, you know  
_

"Never in my life. You're my first." He answered and twirled her around, her dress slightly lifted from the ground, gently swaying from the move. "Well am I the first guy you've ever danced with?"

"Yes, so don't you feel privileged, Blue guy?"

"Yes I do, Realistic-girl."

_That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I miss you  
Been far away for far too long  
I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go  
Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore  
_

"Hey you've got one more question left!" Dominique reminded to her date.

"Alright then, I'd better make this one good then..." Shinji said in his playful tone, Dominique could feel goose bumps prickling on her arm everytime she heard his voice go into that tone, it showed her that he was he had no burdens and she began to feel envious that he had that feeling. So badly did she want that feeling and could not remember a single time whenever she had that chance to savor that sweetness but life was like that. While she began thinking of her heavily weighed soul, Shinji had a dilemma of his own, what would his last question be and would it make him still feel satisfied with an answer?

_So far away _

_So far away  
Been far away for far too long  
So far away_

_So far away  
Been far away for far too long  
But you know, you know, you know  
_

Shinji pulls himself arms length from the young woman as he pulled something out of from his pocket, he placed it into Dominique's hands and she was more than shocked to have found a star & a small ruby embedded charm attached to a gold belcher-chained bracelet inside the thin wooden box.

"It's beautiful! I can't- I can't-" Dominique started but failed as she had kept stuttering over her words. To receive something like this was big because considering all the love letters she had received when younger from hormonal teenage boys, no boy had ever bought her a present before, especially an expensive one. It wouldn't of felt right if she accepted this, after all she had known him over the internet for a month.

"I want you to have it though!" Shinji said covering his hands over hers. "Whenever I was drowning into my shallow world, I thought of you and it helped me to keep going. Thank you for that Realistic-girl." She just stared at him until had realised that he would become heart broken if she declined his gift because she could tell by into his eyes that he desperately wanted her to have it.

"Thank you," she whispered and Shinji smiled, taking it out of the box, he carefully placed the fine jewellery around her small wrist, he once again lost his breath as he took in her features being softly illuminated by the moon light. They continued their dance as both feared reality would soon hit again if they stayed like this.

_I wanted  
I wanted you to stay  
Cause I needed  
I need to hear you say_

"This is my final question: Are you glad that you came here tonight?" Shinji had finally asked to her, she just continued smiling.

"I do. I will never forget this night and I have you to thank, Blue guy 606. Now for my final question: Have you ever kissed a girl?"

_That I love you  
I have loved you all along  
And I forgive you_

_I forgive you  
For being away for far too long  
_

"Yes. When I fourteen but let me tell you, it was so uncomfortable which was a real shame too because I really liked that girl!" Shinji answered, hoping that he did not offended his date in anyway but he was fear was broken with a laugh.

_So keep breathing  
Cause I'm not leaving you anymore  
Believe it  
_

"I'm sorry to hear that! But would you like me to make up for that first kiss?" She playfully asked but was shocked to have asked something so random as to that as a last question. Hell that wasn't even her last question at all! Something she HAD to stupidly ask, wait to go her! But she was even more shocked at his answer.

"Absolutely."

_Hold on to me and never let me go  
Keep breathing  
Cause I'm not leaving you anymore  
Believe it  
Hold on to me and never let me go  
Keep breathing  
Hold on to me and never let me go  
Keep breathing  
Hold on to me and never let me go  
_

The song had finally finished its magic spell and Dominique nervously looked up to the young man that held her into his arms so protectively yet gently. He bent down and their lips grew closer & closer by each passing moment, they were so close now Asuka was sure she could detect the sweet scent of mint escaping from his lips but her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of Kyoto's big clock, indicating to her that her ticket from reality had expired. Another realisation had hit her before she braced herself for the bitter taste of reality.

_Scheist! I thought my phone was accurate to town's clock! Great now that it's midnight it definitely means that I have to take my mask off!_ As if he had been listening to her thoughts, Shinji spoke.

"Look, I know that you're scared Realistic-girl because once we take off these masks, we'll be revealing ourselves but I'm not afraid to face that! And I don't care who you are just as long as you don't quickly change into someone you're not."

"You're right, I shouldn't be afraid to show the real me. I don't want to and I won't hide from this mask any longer!" She happily said, pretending to her date that was her dilemma.

"Good then! I suppose you want me to take mine off first?" He coyly asked and she just nodded, he smiled then pulled away the one thing that had kept his identity hidden away. Dominique pupils became grew slightly at the curiosity of the man's appearance but they shrunk greatly in horror when he proudly spoke of the name that she had loathed since she was fourteen. "My name is Shinji Ikari and it's a pleasure to meet you, Realistic-girl 412."

It felt like time had froze still for Asuka and confusion engulfed her mind then disgust as she remembered all the times that she let him touch her freely, all the moments that she flirted with him and would burst inside when he did the same. _No this can't be real! IT CAN'T BE! I left him so I would never have to see him again and now I've been talking to him all this time! What are the odds? WHAT ARE THE ODDS? This is a sick joke! A SICK JOKE DO YOU HEAR ME?!_ She screamed into her mind to whoever was in charge of her fate. She now knew that they definitely loved to fuck up her life.

Now she wished she didn't come to this stupid dance.

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the beeping of her mobile giving her a reminder that it was midnight and like Cinderella, she had to leave her Prince Charming although in this situation she would have been her grateful that she had a mobile phone reminding her of her curfew otherwise she wouldn't of had a excuse to leave. "I... I have to go!" She said in a surprised tone at her new discovery, she had to get away, away from this god forsaken place and especially away from him.

"What! Where?" Shinji asked in disbelief that she had to go without revealing herself to him.

"Reality!" She answered after picking up her shoes, she lifted up her dress so that it would be easier to run and began running but after a few meters she stopped when Shinji had called out to her.

"Wait! Who are you? Will I ever see you again?" He painfully asked, desperate that she would not leave.

"Let's just say it would be better if you didn't know who I am," Dominique sadly replied, she was about to run off again but stopped herself as looked at him. It was hard to admit to herself that he had grown a lot more handsome since their last encounterment and a lot taller too but she had to shake those out of her head. This was Shinji Ikari we were talking about! A spineless wimp, idiot & pervert, not some Prince Charming of Asuka's fantasies but looking into his eyes she was overwhelmed with sadness & guilt at the thought of just leaving him like that. Sure she had hurt him many times before but even she had her limits!

She mentally argued in her mind for a moment and let out a frustrated sigh, she should at least give him some happiness of what she was about to let him do. Dominique quickly ran back to him and with Shinji's face sketched with confusion, she kissed him. It was only meant to have lasted for a moment but it became longer as it grew more passionate with Shinji's fingers running through Dominique's silky chocolate hair while she savored the sweet flavouring coming from Shinji's kisses. Her favourite flavour of ice-cream, chocolate-mint, teasing her taste buds and taunting her fragile heart.

_No don't do this! We have to go, remember? You know back to Ryoka's homely cafe run by that mean-bitch-of-a-boss-who-hasn't-been-getting- any-action-at-all-but-is-not-really-a-bad-person-because-nearly-all-of-her-family-died-during-Third-Impact-which-you-could've-prevented-if-the-rest-of-the-eva-series-didn't-have-S2-engines!_

Asuka frowned, her inner monologue was becoming more impulsive by the day but she knew that she had a point. Dominique did have to be back at the cafe by two so enjoying the last few seconds of passion, she pulled but by looking into his eyes she could feel her heart beginning to break.

"I'm sorry but I really have to go now! Thank you, Shinji for giving me the most amazing night and maybe one day, we'll be able to see each other again but not like this!" She softly whispered and then ran along with the wind as her strength and the soft grass as her support, Shinji watched her for a moment while recovering from shock but when he finally realised what was happening, he ran after her.

He had to admit for a small girl, she could run pretty fast but he was way in hell letting her escape so easily. As he ran, Dominique got her phone and started dialing Aki, it rung three times before her friend finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Aki, start up the car!" Dominique exclaimed.

"Dominique where the hell are you? Everyone is taking their masks off now!"

"Yeah I know, I'd figured that one out the hard way!"

"Well Jayne & I are already waiting for you in the car so hurry up before the principal catches you!"

"I'm already being chased by my date so things can't get any worse!"

"Why is he chasing you?"

"Because I'm Cinderella," she answered rolling her eyes at having to admit that, but now was not the time for being concerned with terrible punch lines.

"Just hurry up, ok? We don't want you to get in trouble."

"Yes mother," she said sarcastically.

The venue came into view and Dominique thanked her lucky stars that Shinji hadn't caught up to yet but she could see from a distance that he was still chasing after her. She entered the venue and quickly ran past all the teenagers who were beginning to reveal their faces, waiting for the others' response but unfortunately Dominique didn't have enough time to enjoy people's reactions and was about to run up the stairs until she bumped into another girl head on. They both fell to the ground and Dominique manage to knock out her green contact for her right eye.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh!" The girl mumbled while rubbing her head, Dominique was about to apologise but stopped when she realised it was Anzu!

"Anzu! Are you ok?" Dominique asked concerned, strangely feeling guilty considering Anzu's been nice to her for a while now.

"Yeah I'm fine but who are you?" She asked while she let Dominique help her up and she had to admit that Anzu looked amazing tonight. A white one shoulder dress with thousands & thousands of silver beads forming small squares and a small crystal bead in each square, her dress was a bit raffled so it revealed to Dominique that she wore the same shoes as her but instead were silver with diamonds, a crystal beaded necklace with a diamond cross. Her hair had been put in a neat bun being held by a diamond hair band and for make-up she had both silver glitter eye-shadow & mascara with pearly lip gloss.

Dominique realised that Anzu was dressed as an angel just by looking at the white feathers upon her back and liked how the silver streaks of glitter sparkled in the light. Anzu's pearly-white mask with silver sparkles had now been removed and rested upon the crown of Anzu's head making it easy for Dominique to identify the girl.

"No one that you'd want to know. I've gotta go now!" She answered to Anzu and began climbing the stirs but she cursed under her breath when she saw the principal bidding farewell to all teenagers who had taken off their masks.

"Let me guess, you don't want to pass through Principal Touya, do you?" Anzu asked, Dominique was a bit surprised that she understood her dilemma so she quickly nodded, hoping that she would be able to help. "Alright, watch me. When I give you the signal, run out of here."

"Thank you," Dominique said gratefully, feeling a sting of guilt for all the times she called her a selfish slut with no regards for others, but then again Anzu wouldn't be doing this if Dominique hadn't beaten the shit out of her so maybe she should've done it earlier.

"Your welcome, I've been making it my new goal to help out other fellow beings!" And nothing else was said. Anzu quickly pulled their principal into a conversation saying how their night was, how lovely they both looked, etc, etc while Dominique leaned against the entrance's post, hiding away from the couple and praying they would hurry soon because Shinji had just entered the venue.

Her prayers had just been answered when she heard Anzu cough really loudly and pretending to faint causing the principal focus his attention on the Anzu while Dominique snuck past them and began running to the car. But unfortunately when Shinji heard Anzu cough he saw and began climbing the stairs. Dominique didn't know how much longer she could run for until she saw the yellow beetle eagerly waiting for her to make their escape.

"COME ON HURRY UP!" Jayne shouted while Aki was focusing all her attention on the road ahead of her. Never in her life had Asuka jumped so high as she did when she jumped into the back seat of the car, seriously, she deserved a gold Olympic medal! When she collected herself, she screamed at Aki to start driving and she sped off just in time because if she had to run another moment Shinji would've caught her.

Shinji let out a frustrated as he sadly watched the yellow beetle drive into the beautiful night, taking his girl away. Licking his lips, he sighed in sorrow as he savoured the flavour of her kiss. It tasted like wild berries, just like her spirit.

As he slowly made his way back into the venue, he noticed the girl that had fainted regained consciousness, but his heart was aching too much to really care. Sitting on one of the stairs, put his face into his hands feeling his heart quickly crumbling, but it stilled when he noticed something shined on the ground.

Shinji took his face out of his hands for a closer look, it was incredibly small but he was to recognise when he picked it up, a contact lens and judging by the colour, he knew that it belonged to his Cinderella. It may have not been a glass slipper or a mobile phone as he had seen in the movies but it was enough for him to find her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So how was your night with Blue guy, Dominique?" Jayne playfully asked, waiting for all the juicy details of her friend's romantic date.

"It was... amazing but became total hell when I found out who it was!" Dominique answered feeling a wave of nausea remembering that she had been with Shinji.

"Mine was great! The guy I danced with was so sweet but I didn't get his name!" Jayne said in a depressed tone.

"Well the guy I was with, it was so strange! It was like... as if I already knew him!" Aki slowly said thinking her words over and Dominique could feel her insides twisting because she was sure that there was a huge possibility that Shinji still knew either Kensuke & Touji and that Hikari would've spent her night with either of those idiots but should she tell them this?

Dominique shook her head at the thought. No, she didn't feel like talking about the whole thing, she'll let her friends keep hold onto those sweet memories until the time was right and so she hugged her knees to her chest as she looked up to the stars. Life had definitely become complicated.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Dominique, I trust that you have done all the tasks that I set for you?" Ryoka asked her brunette employing, her smirk vanished when Dominique gave no bitter remark.

"Yes miss. It's all been done," she softly said while tying up a rubbish bag, her eyes were closed so that she would block out all emotions she was feeling right now.

"Good. Then I guess, you can leave after you take the rubbish out."

"Yes ma'am," and she went outside. Dominique opened the trash can and put the bag in, she then sat down on some crates. She been sitting on them since she was fourteen and usually did it during her lunch break with Yuji or whenever something was wrong, all she needed to do was to look up into the sky and her problems would drift away but tonight no matter how long she sat there for, the problem would still be there. She placed her head onto her hugged knees and kept breathing in deeply to keep her bitter tears from falling.

Because Asuka never breaks a promise.

End of Chapter 8.

AN: This chapter seemed to go on forever but I managed to do it in the end! I used Nickelback's "Far away" (THEY ROCK! Plus I saw them in concert a few months ago... :-D) because it's a romantic song that fits with the whole Shinji & Asuka situation. Please R&R if you liked it and thank you to everyone that's reviewed also a thank you to bigdave for telling me that there **is** an anime with fat characters in it! C'ya later everyone, Water-Star.


	9. Just call me, Dominique

Chapter 9: Just call me, Dominique

"So she just ran off like that with no proper explanation?" Touji asked astonished, the group of four were walking down the streets of Kyoto as Shinji recounted his tale with his date Realistic-girl 412.

"Yeah, she didn't leave me with a name or anything! All she just said was it would be better if I didn't know who she was!" Shinji said in disbelief. Why would Reaistic-girl say something like that? Did she know him? Did they meet each other once? Or did she feel like she wasn't good enough for him? Whatever the answer was, Shinji would keep looking until he had found the truth and he would start with what was left at the scene of the crime. "But she did leave me a clue!"

"Really! What is it a mobile? A wallet? A glass slipper?" Asked Kensuke spontaneously.

"Why is this reminding me of some Cinderella cliché?" Kaworu groaned aloud.

"This," Shinji answered, ignoring Kaworu's comment and took something bundled with tissue out of his wallet and opened it for his friends to see.

"A contact lens!" Touji exclaimed trying to regain balance because he nearly fell over to Shinji's seriousness to this clue. "THIS is your clue to finding the girl? You must be joking Shinji!"

"Well _actually_ Touji, this contact lens would be very useful for finding this girl because it would obviously be a prescription so we'll just go around every optometrist in this city that prescribes green contacts to find a eighteen year old girl with brown hair-"

"Seventeen."

"Excuse me?" Kaworu asked confused when Shinji interrupted him.

"She's not eighteen yet. Her star sign is Sagittarius, she told me last night."

"Fine. _Seventeen _year old with brown hair and green-"

"Wait a minute, this isn't a clear contact, this is a coloured lens!" Kensuke interrupted, holding the lens up in the air to study it. He paid no attention to the fact that Kaworu was beginning to lose his patience.

"Meaning?" Shinji asked.

"That your Cinderella does not have green eyes at all! They could be blue or brown or crimson for all we know!"

"Oh great! This makes our jobs a LOT easier!" Touji sarcastically exclaimed.

"Hey no one ever said this was gonna be easy-" Shinji started but was beaten to it by Kensuke.

"Yeah but it would've been a lot easier if you got her goddamn name!"

"Hey take it easy on Shinji, man! It was his fault the girl ran off!" Touji defended.

"What the hell?! Who's side are you on?" Kensuke asked and Touji was about to throw a comeback but was startled by commanding voice.

"EVERYBODY! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" And everything went quiet. Even strangers who were innocently walking pass were startled by Kaworu's sudden outburst, particularly his friends. Kaworu had never in their four years of friendship, ever raised his voice or swore. "Now that I have your attention, we'll just have to stick with the plan and go to every optometrist we can find!" Kaworu calmly stated and continued walking leaving three very confused boys behind.

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"Fucking hell!" Dominique angrily muttered to herself, tossing one of her shirts to the ground.

"Hey Dominique, it's elev-what the **fuck** happened here!" Kaldea had started, trying to indicate the time that Dominique's shift would be on soon, but she was grossly interrupted by the state of her flatmate's room. Piles of clothes everywhere, books, make-up, it was worse than usual.

"Oh hey Kaldea, I'm just looking for my spare contacts!" She answered rather casually, normally she'd tell the girl to get the fuck out of her room but ever since Kaldea gave Dominique a ticket to get in, she was feeling a bit grateful towards the mahogany-haired girl.

"Your contacts? What happened to your other ones?" Kaldea asked suspiciously, Dominique was never the kind to lose her items so easily and not be able to find them quickly.

"I... lost the contact for my right eye last night," Dominique said hesitantly, she had never liked telling either of her flatmates her problems.

"Last night? So you did go after all?"

"Yeah..."

"And how was it?"

"It was... nice."

"_"Nice?"_"

"Alright, it was really amazing but... Prince Charming was not who I expected him to be."

"You had a date?"

"Yes. A pen pal I've been talking to as punishment for beating the shit out of Anzu!"

"You know, Anzu's not really that bad of a person."

"I know. She proved it to me last night! I'll tell you later," she said knowing that if she continued this conversation then she would be late for work. Kaldea nodded and left Dominique to be alone in her room. She had a slight smile before Kaldea left to reassure her that she would keep her promise. The smile disappeared when she heard the door handle click and then turned to face the mirror that portrayed the person she had become. Dominique frowned as she stepped closer to reveal the one of the few scars that she had hidden in complete shame, her right eye.

It was the same eye that was pierced when Asuka had tried to destroy the rest of the Eva Series and Asuka was painfully reminded of that day every time she gazed upon the new colour it reflected. Her right eye now had slightly purple tinge to her sapphire colour, the colour was quite pretty and no one could really notice it, but Asuka could and she hated it.

And that was her excuse for wearing contacts & dying hair, it was never because of fear for SEELE but for fear of knowing that the day of Third Impact had indeed left Asuka with scars.

Dominique shook her head frustration for going down memory lane when she realised that she was ten fucking minutes late and decided to take out her left contact out. She noticed she looked quite pretty with blue eyes but quickly dismissed it and put on her glasses. Another item to cover the scar around her eye, and left for work.

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"So am I hearing right, this contact is not prescribed at all?!" Shinji asked the elderly optometrist, the group of friends had been travelling around Kyoto all day and Shinji really didn't need to hear that this had all been in vain.

"I'm sorry sir, but this contact is in fact not prescribed at all! Probably just bought at a chemist or something but if you give me a couple of weeks I could find out what brand it is." The elderly man said.

"A couple of weeks! I don't have a couple of weeks! Forget it, I need to go for a walk," Shinji said and walked out ignoring his friends' cries.

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"Woo! We've got a full house today!" Yuji said, Dominique just nodded and Yuji frowned. Dominique had been quiet all morning and Yuji was concerned for her friend because Dominique was like a sister to her and she hated seeing her like this.

"Dominique could you please go get that guy's order?" Ryoka asked, who was for once, serving customers. Dominique complied, knowing that it was rare for Ryoka to say _'Please'_ but Dominique stopped in her tracks when she realised who it was.

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Shinji had lost a track of time before he realised he was hungry and when he saw the sign "Ryoka's homely cafe", he smiled at his beginning luck and sat down outside underneath a huge umbrella and then greeted a waitress who had a sense of familiarity, but Shinji ignored it. After all it's Kyoto, lots of the people seemed familiar.

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Although she would never admit it, Asuka could feel her hands trembling as she greeted her nemesis in a calm & delightful matter. Silently praying Shinji would not recognise her either as Asuka or Realistic-girl 412.

"Good afternoon sir. What can I get you?" She asked, acting as if she didn't have a single care in the world.

"Good afternoon to you too. Having a busy afternoon I see judging by people," he replied in a casual tone and Asuka was surprised by the depth & masculinity it possessed from the weak & whiny one that she endured at fourteen.

"Yes it is, we were opened last night for the Kyoto masquerade ball!" Dominique said, playing along with Shinji. If Shinji wanted conversation, fine! She'd give it to him, just like everybody gave Shinji all the praise & admiration while she fell flat on her ass and needed someone to give her some sort of affection, but _no_, Shinji had to get _everything _because he was the Invincible Third Child!

"Really? I wouldn't think a small business like this would be opened so late!"

"Oh you would be surprised at the lengths my boss will go to just to make a few dollars and piss me off! Killing two birds with one stone is how I best like to describe it."

"So I take it you had to work?" Shinji asked, interested with the girl's use of quips.

"Yes unfortunately but hey, at least I got double time." She said, surprising herself by saying it with a smile.

"Yeah but do want wanna miss out on something like a dance. It's one of those things you should go to as a teenager, presuming you are one, are you?"

"You guessed right, this is my final year after so long!"

"Yeah this is my final year too! Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"Well when you cut out all the dick heads, sluts & wannabes, it is pretty awesome!"

"Well aren't we cynical today?"

"Yes and I wouldn't have it any other way." She proudly stated with fake patronitism, Shinji laughed and began wondering.

"If it's not too personal, how old are you?"

Dominique was taken back at this question, feeling unsure if she should answer it. But then again, maybe she should, maybe he was interested in her and would ask her out (although she would scream out "NO!") or maybe he was on to her, maybe he knew that she was indeed Realistic-girl 412. _Or maybe he's asking it to piss me off!_ "Seventeen."

"And what star sign are you?"

_Aren't we getting a little personal?_ "Sagittarius," but instantly regretted her answer as she realised that Shinji did indeed suspect her. She continued by saying "What's your star sign and age?"

Shinji sighed inwardly, it wasn't her. Why else would she ask a question that she already knew the answer to? It was a shame too, the girl was quite pretty- No slash that! _Beautiful_ was more like it. Even with those thin rimmed glasses, the girl still managed to look like a movie star, but Shinji knew that beauty was only a minor trait when it came to the subject of love. Sensing the girl's impatientence Shinji answered, "I'm an eighteen year old Gemini."

The girl was about to say something else until she was interrupted by an angry looking woman. "Dominique! Haven't you gotten this customer's order yet?" The girl known as Dominique flinched which made Shinji feel guilty for getting her into trouble, considering the fact that the cafe was extremely busy and he was just making her job difficult by keeping the conversation going.

"Actually Ryoka, I was-" Dominique had enough of Ryoka always interrupting her while she was doing something and she was about to let it be known, but she was interrupted by Shinji.

"Giving me directions!" Both women looked at him weirdly so he continued. "I was asking directions for um... that university um... I can't remember its name..."

"The Kyoto university?" Ryoka asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah that's it! Where was it again?"

"Ten blocks south of here, you shouldn't miss it." Ryoka said dully and left them to be.

"Umm thanks," Dominique said sheepishly. Never had she seen Shinji do something like that for her.

"Don't mention it. I was the one who got you into trouble anyway. So anyway could I please have a green tea and some beef raeman, Dominique?"

"Uhh... sure," she replied, momentarily forgetting her false name, she wrote down the order and spoke again. "I'll be out with your green tea in five minutes, sir." Although it felt weird for her to direct Shinji like that.

"Please call me, Shinji, Miss Dominique."

Dominique let out a soft chuckle, Shinji hadn't changed one bit. "Dominique will do."

"Dominique... European isn't it?"

"Yes, I'm from Europe," and before Shinji could say anything else Dominique walked off to serve other customers.

_Dominique... she seems to fit almost perfectly with the description. She's seventeen, Sagittarius, chocolate-brown hair and even European appearance! But she doesn't seem to know me and she claimed she wasn't even at the dance! Argh, why can't life be like more of a fairy tale where the boy can instantly find his girl and they'll be happy for the rest of their lives? I suppose though, you never always get what you want in life._ Shinji noticed his mobile going off, quickly distracting him from his discouraging thoughts. It was probably one of the guys wondering where he got off to but he didn't care, so he turned it off and waited for Dominique to bring his tea.

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In fit of rage, Asuka punched into the pale blue tiles of the kitchen, thankfully not attracting any attention from the staff. _Schiest! Why does life have to be so fucking difficult? _She took a slow & deep breath to calm herself down and then removed her fist from the slightly smashed wall. Noticing that she had cut herself in her outburst, Dominique washed her hands again and took one more breath before facing Shinji again.

She picked up the tray containing Shinji's green tea and gently spoke to herself as she walked over, "Mama, I love you and all, but you really suck at watching over me!"

End of Chapter 9.

AN: Sorry to everyone that I haven't updated in months but I was not in the Evangelion mood. I hope you liked this chapter and please R&R to tell me what you think and also thank you to everyone that has reviewed, they're really encouraging!

To CG1 Temporal: Don't worry I will continue with "A chance" and I'll most likely be updating it in the next few days. Sorry about the wait!


	10. Letting someone find out

Chapter 10: Letting someone find out

"Here you are, Shinji. Your tea," Dominique said with another of her million dollar smiles which he genuinely thought as a beautiful trait of the girl's but the waitress' mind thought otherwise. _Great Asuka! Just give him one of your phoniest smiles ever known to man! Idiot! Wait-why do you even fucking care? Is it because you're falling for the guy! OH PLEASE GOD ALMIGHTY DON'T LET THAT BE IT! Okay Asuka just chill! You're just a little stressed because exams coming up, having a fake identity, making sure the government doesn't find out that you're still alive and if you set the DVD player to record Supernatural or Mana set it up for fucking Big Brother! Hmm that reminds me, I have to return those DVDs to the rental shop... wait! What the fu-_

"That was sure fast! Thanks Dominique, I'm definitely gonna give you a tip!" Shinji said in gratitude, interrupting the 17yr old's first stages of her soon-to-come insanity.

"Oh you don't have to do that!" Sweetly replying and really hoping, Shinji wouldn't because if he did, Asuka had may as well throw her dignity out of the window. She was about to further protest but three guys, who all appeared to be Shinji's age, approached Shinji and sat down with him. Knowing that was her cue, Dominique left.

"Shinji where the hell have you been? We were looking everywhere for you!"

"Nowhere in particular Kensuke. Just been walking around and I decided to have a break here!" Merely shrugging his shoulders and then took a sip of his green tea.

"Now that you mention it, I am pretty hungry myself!" Touji admitted and whistled to Dominique. "Hey cutie can we get some service here!"

Dominique's jaw tightened,_ Well, it seems that Shinji still has that bad habit of being friends with dick heads!_ She felt like walking over to the table and slam the guy in the face with her tray to teach him a bit of respect. Now that would've felt good, but shakily controlling her anger, she ignored him and listened to the customers giving their orders with her back turned towards Shinji and his friends.

"Hey waitr- OW!" Dominique smiled, it sounded like Shinji had whacked the asshole in the chest for his lack of manners. "What was that for?" From the corner of her eye, she could see that Shinji had given the offender the evil eye making him mouth an _'Oh'_ at the realisation of his ways. "Excuse me, may we _please _get some service when you're ready?"

"Sure. But after I finish serving these other people!" She answered in an overly sugared tone that was her main weapon of sarcasm, faced the boys and then turned back to the task at hand. A few minutes later Dominique came back to the table with Shinji's raeman and pulled out her pen & pad to take down the boys orders. "What will it be boys?"

"I'll have a coke and double cheeseburger, please." Touji ordered politely, secretly hoping to please the beautiful waitress with his new picked ability to say the word _'Please'_ and manage to use it in a polite tone.

"An orange juice and steak sandwich, thanks. And what will you have Kaworu?" Kensuke asked, giving his full attention to his silver-haired friend but it was quickly averted when the pen that formally belonged to Dominique, had slipped out of her hand and collided onto the paved concrete.

Embarrassed, the seventeen year old quickly picked it up and mentally cursed herself for her lack of hand-eye coordination, even if the action was a way to express her shock. _Kaworu, isn't that the seventeenth angel named Tabris? I thought Shinji killed him!_ She knew almost everything about the final battle after managing to hack into some old NERV files at the age of fifteen; his powers, his angelic name and the affect he had everyone, but most importantly, the friendship he formed with Shinji.

So it was quite a shock for Asuka to know that the bastard was still alive and hanging out with Shinji, in some way, Asuka once again felt like she had been betrayed.

Kaworu slightly frowned, the girl felt strangely familiar but knew that if he did meet her once before it must've been while he was still an angel, but then again humans were so alike these days it was impossible for him to pick out the difference in without having the ability to feel their essence. He gave a slight sigh, he wished he still had his angel powers. Not that he didn't enjoy being human or finally be accepted by the human race but sometimes he wondered how they're able to wake up and face another day even though they knew what was most likely to occur.

_Humans are confusing._

"Huh?" Quickly realising that he was being tapped on the shoulder by Kensuke, indicating that the waitress was asking him a question.

"I said, what would you like to have?" She asked, showing some concern for the man.

"I'm sorry! I'll just have the Asian stir-fry and water, please."

"Okay, I'll just go get your beverages now!" Dominique promised as she scribbled down the orders, grateful that her knowledge for kanji had increased after some tutoring from dear Daisuke. He had trouble with algebra and she had trouble with the letters _'Pe'_ & _'Be'_, they helped each other and since then, both were receiving A's each term. "Thank you, gentlemen," she collected the menus from the group and then left leaving the boys to discuss more important matters.

"Oh man, was she HOT!" Touji exclaimed watching the seventeen year old as she walked away.

"Touji, do you ever think with your upstairs brain?" Kensuke asked, rolling his eyes at his heart-wearing-sleeve friend. It saddened Kensuke knowing that the only way Touji was dealing with the loss of Hikari after Third Impact would be hooking up with random girls. He did it in hopes of ending the emptiness which lingered in his heart of the sweet, innocent school girl who had always found it in her heart to make him lunch each day just so he wouldn't order from the canteen.

"Believe it or not Kensuke, I do! And at the moment I would like to know who was that girl that I danced with last night!" Touji retorted, replying in a more serious tone.

"I know what you mean, my date ran off when she realised the time! I asked her what was wrong and all she told me was that her friend had a deadline before running off!" Touji raised an eyebrow, interested with what his friend had to say before asking his own question.

"Was your date wearing a cat mask & a silver dress?"

"Yes! She also had short red hair and blue eyes!"

"That girl came and interrupted our dance! They must've knew each other because my date asked the girl what was wrong and when she told her what the time was, she freaked and they both ran off!"

"Now that you mention it... when Realistic-girl took off in a vehicle, it had two girls waiting for her, I noticed one fitting your description Kensuke!" Shinji said at the realisation that maybe this wasn't a coincidence.

"Did you get a glimpse of the car?" Kaworu inquired.

"A yellow beetle! It had no roof so it's obviously a convertible," he answered, noticing his answer did not please neither Kensuke or Touji, however, Kaworu remained optimistic.

"Well think of it this way, how many eighteen or seventeen year old girls have a yellow beetle convertible? Which, may I add is a rare commodity!" Although Touji and Kensuke wanted to protest their friend's theory, they knew it was the best clue they had. Besides a contact lens.

Kensuke was about to say something else but was interrupted as a glass of orange juice and the brunette waitress serving their drinks, blocking his view. "Thank you."

"No problem," she replied with that plastered, innocent smile of hers and continued with her job of serving the drinks to the table of young men. Once she had finished, she took Shinji's bowl and asked if he would like anything else, during that small conversation Kaworu could sense a feeling of uneasiness coming from the girl and he was sure that if Shinji were to get up from this table and leave and never return, she would not be at a loss.

This intrigued him.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his phone which announced that he received a text message, he smiled. _Yes she texted me!_ The girl he had been dancing with had given him her number after the unveiling of the masks. Her name was Kaldea and she had turned eighteen only a few weeks ago. Kaworu really liked talking to her, but he couldn't help shaking off the sense of familiarity towards her. But that was crazy, they had only just met then and Kaworu never really had that many female acquaintance even before Third Impact.

_Hey Tabris, how hav u bn? I was wondering if u wanted 2 go 2 a movie 2day, do u wanna? Kaldea_

He flinched, he forgot that he told the girl his angel name and not his real name! Natural reflex.

_Sure i'll come 2 the movies with u! Wat time?_

_3 ok?_

Kaworu checked the time on his mobile; 2:36 it said. Knowing that he wouldn't make it on foot, he told her where he was.

_I could give u a lift if u want._

Kaworu wasn't sure, not that he wasn't concerned but it was just that it wouldn't be too impressive as a first date but she texted back, convincing him that she knew where he was and that she had to meet someone there anyway. Kaworu's curiosity level was raised to another notch so he texted her. She replied that she would meet him in 10 minutes, so receiving this info Kaworu quickly finished his meal and eagerly waited for her.

After being four minutes late Rei had finally shown up in her midnight-blue, three door Free-Lander. She had managed to get the vehicle after Third Impact while humanity was still recovering from the shock, she found it during her trip from the shops and knowing that it was already difficult to be walking five blocks with ten grocery bags, she drove it back to their apartment and decided that if Asuka had a Citreon, why shouldn't she have a car of her own? Looking around for her date, Kaldea quickly glanced around the cafe and smiled when she found him.

Kaworu also smiled when he saw her and waved her over. _God, she's even more beautiful in the day time than in the night!_ Wearing a short denim skirt, white tank top & beach styled platforms, Kaldea had her hair down, letting her luscious locks of mahogany hair flow freely with the calm breeze as she walked over to her date. "I'm glad you made it!"

"Well I kind had to if we wanna see in the movie in time!" She sweetly replied, the other boys were astounded at the beautiful girl that stood before them saying she had a date with Kaworu!

"Yeah I guess we better get going!" He agreed and got out his wallet and then chucked his money onto the table. "See you later guys!"

"Hey wait a minute! Aren't you going to introduce us?" Kensuke asked.

"Yeah! Talk about rude, Kaworu!" Touji added.

_Kaworu?_ _Who are they talking about? Wasn't that the name of the seven-_ her thoughts were instantly interrupted as Asuka came to the table and handed a bowl of mint ice-cream to Shinji and begun collecting the plates.

"Thank you, Dominique," Shinji thanked.

"Your welcome, Shinji." And that just about did it for Rei.

"I suppose you're right! Kaldea my name is Kaworu and this is Kensuke & Touji! The guy talking to the waitress is Shinji! I'm real sorry about the confusion," Kaworu apologised but Kaldea was more focused at the realisation that dawned upon her.

"Nice to meet you all! If you'll excuse me, Kaworu, I have to talk to Dominique for a moment!" She said distractedly. She walked over to Dominique, grabbed her wrist and then dragged her off to the bathroom, all the boys raised their eyebrows of confusion but none of them mentioned it.

_Man, Kaworu, you really need to stop at always jumping to conclusions. Remember the saying; Curiousity killed the cat._

"Shut up, inner voice."

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"What the fuck was that about!" Rei questioned in a harsh tone merely seconds after locking the door behind her.

_Shit, she found out! Wait maybe she didn't, okay just play dumb Asuka and pray to god or Buddha or whoever the fuck is in charge of my life that Wonder Girl doesn't know! _"What are you talking about Kaldea?" She innocently asked, using that name in case of an eavesdropper and she would not be surprised if anyone would hear, Rei's voice was booming!

"Don't play dumb with me, Dominique! You knew that they were in Kyoto, didn't you?" Rei growled whilst playing along with the name game. There was a certain harshness in her tone that made Asuka never be the one to back done from a fight, feeling slightly scared. Asuka had already seen Shinji's wild side when he was mad and Asuka preferred not to see Rei's.

"Yes," Rei wasn't idiotic as she appeared, she deserved to know the truth. A mixture of hurt and anger flashed through Rei's eyes causing once blue-haired girl to curse loudly. So loud that Dominique was afraid that someone may barge in, demand an explanation and Asuka would be out of a job.

Several moments later, Kaldea managed to calm down by attempting to take deep breaths, but it only made her feel lightheaded. "How long?"

"Since last night! Actually, I wasn't even aware that Shinji was still friends with those other two stooges or that angel was alive! I only met Shinji, that's all," Asuka quietly admitted feeling somewhat ashamed.

Rei looked deep into Asuka's eyes and searched to see if she was telling the truth or not. When she saw no trace of doubt, Rei gave a deep sigh and bowed her head, somehow, it saddened Asuka to Rei look so confused and defeated. And although Asuka would never admit it to anyone, or herself for that matter; it fucking terrified her to see Rei give up. "So what are we going to do now?" Rei lifted her head up so fast that Asuka mentally complimented Rei's reflexes, guess there's still a bit of Evangelion pilot in her after all.

"What are we going to do? How the fuck should I know? We just can't go up to them and pretend that we don't have a history with them! That's just fucked! We have to tell them!"

"Tell them? As in," Asuka speaking into her air-head facade, "'Oh hey guys, ah we've got something to tell you and this is _really_ funny; we're the girls that fought on your side during the Angel period. That's right, it's us; Rei and Asuka, the girls who you thought were dead! Ain't that funny?'" Rei instantly cringed at Asuka's girlie, high-pitched tone. The way Asuka said it, made Rei prefer to let a drunk infant drive her car (whilst she was drunk herself) rather than let them know.

"Fine we won't tell them. But we should at least tell the others, let alone Jayne."

"What do you mean?" Asuka slowly asked, feeling the slow painful sensation of fear which was clutching her chest.

"You know what I'm talking about. Telling Jayne that we know them, about our past, who we were and what really happened during Third Impact..."

No one in the gang had ever told Jayne about the events of Third Impact, Jayne knew that the events were caused by the phenonum known as the angels, but Asuka had never actually told her why Third Impact occurred. She was afraid that she would lose Jayne as a friend once Asuka had told Jayne the whole truth.

"Okay, random. What made you suddenly come up with that idea?" She asked, hoping to change the subject.

"It's been something I've thought about for a long time and don't tell me you haven't thought about it as well!" Asuka couldn't deny it; she had thought about it for a long time. She had thought about it since the first day she met Jayne on the beach, but fear and uncertainty had always held her back because she was always unsure of when it was the right time to tell Jayne their deepest, darkest secret.

To tell Jayne that it had been all Asuka's fault that she became an orphan.

Noticing the inner struggle raging within the adolescent, Rei's features softened. "I know, you're scared to lose Jayne. But eventually you're going to lose her anyway if we keep continuing to hide secrets from her. Jayne lost her parents because of this, don't let her lose her faith in us too." She softly finished, looking at Asuka one more time before unlocking the bathroom door and leaving Dominique to be suffocated by her inner turmoil.

End of Chapter 10.

AN: So what do you think? I've re-edited the chapters up to this point, nothing major, just fixing up a few spelling errors and grammar. Sorry it's been such a long time since I updated but I haven't been into the writer's mood lately. I've already updated "A chance".

The reason why I made Kaworu introduce himself as Tabris to Rei is because I noticed in the 24th episode when Kaworu talked to Rei, she had no idea who he was nor did she ever addressed him by his name so I thought it would be easier for Rei to get his number if she didn't know who he was. Am I making sense?

Anyway, thank you all for your patience & reviews. And please keep R&R, it's good karma!


	11. No anger only makes it hurt even more

Chapter 11: No anger only makes it hurt even more

Several hours of work seem to fly by for Asuka, making her paranoid that time was purposely going fast just for this moment. _Oh sure, any other day it'll take me forever to get away from work but the one day I need it to slow down, time does a 180 on me!_

"Typical," she muttered. Once again, she felt anger towards the injustices of her life, before she was reminded of the more important task at hand; telling Jayne about her friends' deceit for nearly the past four years.

_Jayne, I don't know how to tell you this, but... it was all my fault that your parents died in Third Impact. I wasn't strong enough, fast enough, or smart enough, to realise that I should've looked for an umbilical cable to defeat the Eva Series. For that your parents, and the rest of humanity perished because of me. Can you forgive me? Could you ever forgive me?_

"How would you ever be able to forgive me?" Feeling the dread already weighing her heart down.

Asuka wished Jayne would hurry up. It would only be just Jayne and her, as Rei still resumed her date with Kaworu and Mana was, surprisingly enough, on a date with Daisuke. _Good thing too, because if she had broken his heart, I would've smashed that bitch right **smack** in the middle of that dance floor. Even if Shinji would've caught up with me by then! _Asuka remembered the surprise in Mana's tone as she retold of the events that occurred last night, to her flat mates this morning.

_Was it really only just last night that I was dancing with Shinji? With a guy who I thought I could fall in love with until I learnt his true identity?_ For Asuka, it seemed like a distant memory from a lifetime ago and if were not for the belcher chain bracelet that Shinji had given her, Asuka would've been convinced that the whole night was just an infigment of her imagination.

Asuka continued gazing at the bracelet now worn around her wrist, wondering if life was going to become any less complicated some time soon. _I thought that after life after Eva would be easier, now it seems more... tiring._ _Was life during Eva this exhausting?_

Probably not, as during that time Asuka didn't have to lie about her status in society, she was embraced for it. And sure, people often found her to be too up front at the best of times, but they still cared for her and tried to help her. Not like these days; where if she got into any sort of trouble she would simply be told to sort it out herself. And when she thought back to it now, she was better off then than she was now. Sadly that was the quiet definition of childhood; you never realise how good you've got it until you're forced to face reality and grow up.

_I suppose I never really got a chance to have a normal childhood. After mama's death, fantasy was just something I couldn't bear to indulge myself in because it only hurts more when I had to go back to reality. _Asuka remembered a time as she grew up, whenever she had asked an adult a question, she never wanted to hear their reasons or possibilities. Instead, she had asked for the facts; a simple _'Yes'_ or a _'No'_ was all she needed to know. _"Just reality for me" as I had once put it!_ Chuckling bitterly at the memory, Asuka hugged her knees to her chest as she began to feel the suffocation of her turmoil, again.

"God Jayne, what the hell is taking you so long?" She muttered to herself.

"Sorry! Bad traffic, you know," someone answered.

Dominique looked up and greeted her friend with a smile, but she felt disappointment when she noticed it had weakened. _There's no going back now._ Her shoulders slumped at the acknowledgment of the tempest that was soon to come.

"There's something you want to talk to me about," Jayne said as more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah," Dominique nodded. "Ummm... you may wanna sit down... this may take a while." She finally finished, shifting herself into the corner of her wall to make room for her friend.

"Okay... so what do you wanna talk to me about?" She asked, feeling the sudden tension.

Asuka took a deep breath. She didn't know where to start, or know if she would be able to finish. _Maybe Rei should tell her about this. Or even Mana! Yeah, or tell her another day when you're not so tired and emotionally vulnerable. _

**_"I know, you're scared to lose Jayne. But eventually you're going to lose her anyway if we keep continuing to hide secrets from her. Jayne lost her parents because of this, don't let her lose her faith in us too." _**Asuka sighed, _Goddamn it!_ Rei was right; if they all continued with this charade and Jayne found out the truth in the most inconvenient way, then she would be even more upset that Dominique didn't tell Jayne herself and it would destroy all remaining hope of saving their friendship.

So taking one more breath of air, Asuka spoke, "Have you ever heard of the mecha robots formally known as the Evangelions?"

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Several hours later it was all over. Asuka told Jayne the truth; everything was now all out in the open and all Asuka could feel was her fragile heart waiting in dread, anticipation, _hope_, but Jayne remained quiet. _Oh god, please say something. Anything!_ Yet Jayne still did not speak. Asuka suddenly began to feel nauseous and she noticed her heart rate had increased, not to mention that sound of nothingness had become so intense that Asuka was sure that she would go deaf.

And what was worse, Asuka felt like she had been stolen the ability to breathe.

"I'm so, so sorry Jayne." She had finally managed to speak, noticing how her tongue suddenly became thickened, "I let you down. I'm pathetic... I don't deserve to be your friend..." Hanging her head in shame and felt her heart starting to crumble.

"Why would you even say something like that?" Jayne's asked, forcing Asuka quickly look up to see Jayne looking back at her as if she had heard correctly, before looking at her knees again. Jayne's voice was so gentle with genuine confusion that it almost broke Asuka's heart to answer Jayne's question.

"Because I didn't stop Third Impact..." she swallowed with great difficulty. "I wasn't able to save humanity." God, she could even feel tears begin to prick her eyes. _In nearly four years and now I'm about to cave like a freakin' dam!_ "And if it weren't for me, you'd still be with your parents!"

"Domi- _Asuka_," quickly correcting herself. "It wasn't your fault. There was no way you could've fought back. You were taking on nine Evangelions that had fucking S2 engines! You also had no power left in your reserves and was pierced with a fucking Lance of Loginus, which as you said can penetrate an AT field! Tell me, Asuka, how could you have possibly won?"

Asuka knew what Jayne was trying to do; make it sound like that Asuka had no chance in hell of success, therefore, take the blame off her shoulders and Asuka truly appreciated that. But after nearly four years of self-blaming, the guilt would not vanish in a matter of only several hours. For Asuka to truly forgive herself and let it go, it would take time and a few more confessions.

"Thank you. For trying to be understanding, but it doesn't stop me from feeling guilty for all the lives that I could've saved. After all, it was the last thing that I promised to Misato..." Stopping herself at the mention of her former guardian.

"Did you really have a thing against her or was it just your competitive side kicking in?" Jayne asked lightheartedly. Knowing that she would not be the one to mend Asuka at this point, Jayne let the subject go.

"Yes and no. I knew Misato when I was four, she knew everything there was to know about me but still... I just, I couldn't face her when it came to my past."

"Something that you've come to regret?"

"Yes... now that I think about it. Oh god. I... I so... I so wish that I treated her better when I was living with her. Rather, than criticising her awful cooking, her terrible addiction to beer or always telling her how she should've changed her carpets because of how tacky they looked!" Smiling at her final comment. "But in a way, it was sort of fun! For the first time in my life I shared my life with two people and a penguin, and I didn't have to depend on myself all the time! It was like we were... family." She felt her stomach drop, suddenly feeling sick at her sudden confession.

"A pretty fucked up family, who I'd rather not be associated with, but it was better than being alone." She quickly continued, "And sure, I was living with a wimpy, perverted, idiotic stooge who would probably even apologise to his own shadow if he didn't know it was his!"

"As well as a woman who lived like a slob and got a kick out of flirting with teenage boys, and a penguin who never really did much to annoy me but was there for comic relief. But all of it was real, and it was mine to keep. But because I was too afraid, I decided to be chicken shit and I pushed them away. Just like everyone else in my life. Even with you and Hikari."

The words scratched deeply into Jayne's heart, but she wouldn't let it show. Jayne knew that it would make Asuka feel even more guilt keeping secrets from her. She couldn't blame Asuka for having so much difficulty to open up to people and let them know how badly she was hurting, nor could she blame Asuka for the death of her parents because Asuka had been raised under very different circumstances compared to her.

Before the Third Impact, Jayne had been apart of wealthy status. She was formally classified by all her classmates as the rich girl with parents whose only main focus was their work, earn a bit more money and be able to stand their partner of their small synthetic family whilst not getting their stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning. To this day Jayne still couldn't even remember if there had ever been a day when either parent took the day off and just simply hung out with their daughter, or at least told her that they loved her and that her existence wasn't a mistake. But Jayne could not remember either parent speaking such sweet, warm words of comfort & love and it had often left her wondering what it would be like to feel that type of love.

_Oh god, Jayne, when are you going to get over this emotional shit? Stop living in the past! Come on let it go! _Feeling the need to take her mind of the depressing subject, Jayne gently pinched herself whilst making sure Asuka didn't see her do this action. "It's understandable. Given your circumstances."

A small smile appeared on the corner's of Asuka's lips, but it was dark. "I know, but I hate it! You're a good person, Jayne. You've been there with me since the beginning and you've always put up with all my emotional shit and permanent bitchiness without a single complaint! But for some pathetic and fucked up reason, I can't even have the decency to open up to you or Hikari, and tell you what's ripping me apart. One day I'll be headed for a great fall and there will be no one there to catch me, only be mere spectators. This SUCKS, you guys don't deserve this! Not after all you've both done..." She murmured in frustration, burying her face into her pillow to let it catch her silent screams.

"Asuka, I admit, it hurts a little knowing that I can't help you but no one can. No one can really help anyone else at all. Sure, they can offer guidance, _love_ and support, but in the end the person has to do it on their own because it's their life and there are some things you just can't control."

Asuka frowned, "You've known about this for a long time haven't you?"

A look of surprise stained Jayne's features, "You mean like I was rehearsing it or quoting off _Family Guy_ just then?"

She shook her head, "No. I mean, you've known that I've been keeping things from you. Didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I knew that I couldn't force it from you. It had to be your decision to tell me. Although I get the feeling that you didn't want to tell me your past just of yet. True?"

Asuka cringed in guilt, but nodded in agreement. "It wasn't like that I didn't want to tell you. It's just that-"

"You were afraid."

"Yes. I was afraid that you would hate me and you would never wanna see me again."

"You were afraid of getting hurt again," Jayne had concluded, a realisation for both her and Asuka.

"Apart from cutting off my sentences, you're right. I am afraid and hearing all this, how simple it is for someone to figure it out so quickly... **GOTT**!! It's- it's so, freakin' obvious that it makes realise, I'm such an idiot!"

"Well don't feel that way Asuka because it's not your fault. Besides, it's all ancient history now. We really ought to let it go..."

"Huh?!" _Misato once told you the exact same thing!_ Locking her gaze with Jayne's, thinking back to the moment when Misato had said those exact words.

_It was when we went to the springs after I killed that damn angel! That son of a bitch ripped my leg off and tore all my coolant cables! You know Asuka, you wouldn't have even been able to enjoy that evening, let alone be here today if it weren't for Shinji hauling your ass out of that volcano!_

Shinji saving her from that volcano was one of the few fond memories Asuka had of Shinji, apart from him showing Asuka the point where you could see all of Tokyo 3 and discovering his hidden talent of the cello. _Even then Shinji had always been a bit mysterious. He was so goddamn hard to talk to, but then again I'm pretty hard to communicate to as well.._.

"What?" Asuka asked, she had been so focused on her thoughts that she had not been able to hear what Jayne said.

"I _said..._" Jayne repeated," I have to go now!" Standing up and stretching her aching limbs. "Normally, I'd ask if you wanna hang out but I've got that huge research assignment on Emperor Claudius due on Monday and it's worth twenty-five percent of my marks! So see you later?"

"Sure! See you on Monday," Asuka replied watching Jayne walk out the door.

"Oh and Asuka," Jayne started, grabbing the door before locking eyes with Asuka. "Thank you, for not telling everything until now. Maybe one day you could tell Yuji too?"

"Maybe."

"And one more thing Asuka; I can never forgive you for my parents' death and not because Third Impact, but because there's nothing to forgive. I know that it wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could've done and besides, it's not like I ever really had parents anyway." She finished, feeling sorrow beginning to drown her. Then Jayne walked out, leaving Asuka with the sweet relief to know that she had not lost her friend. On mixed emotions, Asuka buried her face into her hands laughing, first softly until it became hysterical, laughing insanely to herself at the newest lifted burden.

But unfortunately the truth had left Jayne feeling something else.

"Everyone has the power to come back to life she told me, but neither of you wanted that. Did you? Mum? Dad? I was simply a burden to you, wasn't I? Just like Asuka was to Kyoko." She whispered to the sky of mixed purples, pinks and oranges. Jayne would've considered it quite beautiful as it always was whenever she sat on the edge of her apartment's rooftop, but her mind was elsewhere.

A droplet of human sadness crept from her eye and slivered down her cheek, along with another and another until Jayne felt her walls crumble. When the tears flooded down her cheeks and dropped carelessly onto her clothing, Jayne was no longer sure if she was now crying for herself, for Asuka, or for all the people in Asuka's story that had been unfortunate enough to get into contact with Eva.

Whatever the reason may have been, there was no one Jayne could've blamed for her misfortune and that hurt like hell.

End of Chapter 11.

AN: As usual thanks for reading and reviewing. This chapter I've given Jayne a bit more character and focused this chapter more on her relationship between herself & Asuka to show that there is a bit more depth to it than sarcasm and good times. Hope everyone enjoyed it and I'll update in a few weeks or so and "A chance" will also be updated soon. Later days, Water-Star.


	12. One heart, one mind

Chapter 12: One heart, one mind

"We leave on Friday," Touji commented.

Shinji sighed. _Touji's right. The school trip is only for two weeks and we've already been here for eight!_ Time was running out for Shinji to find Realistic-Girl. While the others in his year have been of doing the usual sight seeing, purchase crappie souvenirs and just doing their own thing whilst acting like a kid at the same time, Shinji had been spending all his holiday time in the library searching through car registrations and reading profiles of every school girl aged seventeen who currently attended Highschool 2207.

Shinji knew what highschool Realistic-Girl attended as he recalled the time when the person, whom had been in charge of the pen pal program at his school, mentioned to him that this was the school. However, it has now been proven to be quite a difficult challenge for Shinji as the school's popular is over 2,500 and that's excluding the boys. He had to admit though, it would've been a lot more tiring if none of his friends weren't there to help.

"You know, you guys really don't have to do this!" Shinji said crossing another name off the list. _Miss Tomoyo Hill, but you're not girl I'm looking for!_

"Shinji, I am not looking through these profiles because of you. I am looking through these profiles because if I find the girl fitting your description, then I'll be able to find my girl! That and see what women really do want!" Touji replied chuckling at his small joke. Silently reassuring Shinji but trying not to make it look like chick-flick moment at the same time.

"You know what I found to be incredible? Us these profiles with no hassles!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"What do you mean? You just hacked into the school's computer!" Kaworu pointed out.

"Okay do you know how sad that sounded? Hearing that makes me sound like a stalker!" Shinji felt a bit creeped out.

"Maybe legally, but hey, you're just looking for someone that you're in love with!"

Shinji looked at Kaworu skeptically. "Okay bad wording! Let me rephrase; you're looking for a friend of yours whose been one of your closest friends up until now and who has decided to run away from you for no apparent reason! Does that sound better?"

"A little," Shinji shrugged. "But I don't get it. Why did she run away like that all of a sudden? She seemed pretty comfortable being with me until midnight and after that, after she found out who I am, she freaked!"

"Are you sure she freaked out? Or was she in a hurry to be somewhere else?" Kensuke asked.

"I'm not sure. I wish I could remember, but I can't!" Shinji let out a frustrated sigh and threw in face into his hands before running his fingers through his hair.

"Chill man. We'll find her and when we do promise me that you won't start making out with her!" Touji pleaded in a cocky tone, smirking Shinji's annoyance but he stopped when a year book nearly hit him in the face. "Hey!"

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"I'm glad you told her," Rei said to Asuka as she dried the wet plate Asuka had just cleaned.

"Me too, but I still can't understand when she said that she didn't have parents anyway! Were they already dead before Third Impact?" Vigorously scrubbing a bowl that Mana had been inconsiderate enough not to rinse out, instead putting it in the sink with the rest of the dirty dishes. "By the way, thanks for helping me!" She said sheepishly, she had always hated saying the words _'Thank you'_ but it would've been rude not to say it considering it was her that had asked Rei to help and that too, was something that she loathed.

"Your welcome. Besides it's no problem considering I don't usually help out around the house as much as I should!" Rei confessed making Asuka scoff.

"I know what you mean. When I lived with Shinji & Misato, it was Shinji that did all the cooking and cleaning. Wow! Out of all of us, he was more mother hen than either Misato or me! That's really sad!" Rei laughed at the thought.

"So what was it like to live with Misato and Shinji?" Rei asked. Asuka feeling a bit surprised when she noticed Rei talking about them in a first name status, for some reason it still felt unnatural. Rei it had taken her quite a while to not call someone by their surname as it seemed like a normal tradition for the girl. However, Rei knew would have to make a few adjustments if she wanted to live this life without piloting Eva.

But sadly all Rei's hard work of normality in the day would become all in vain at night when she would be plagued by memories of the Third Impact, making her wake to up to the silent screams echoing through her room as well as her mind. _Damn you, Gendo! You used me! You used me as a puppet for your own selfish purposes and look where it ended up for you. Your wife had bitten your head off, literally!_ Rei shuddered at the memory, Rei wasn't sure she had the strength to tell Shinji what happened to his father if she ever met him again. _He has a right to know! And if Asuka could tell Jayne about Third Impact then you can tell Shinji that Unit 01 killed his father. Simple!_

"It was hard at the best of times, but it was okay. Besides, I had the penguin remember?" Asuka grinned to Rei and handed her Mana's now clean bowl.

"I always did like Pen Pen. But then again, I like all animals. Why do you think I don't eat meat?" Rei replied, drying the bowl before she placed it in the cupboard.

"Because it would've felt too weird for you to eat the flesh of something that once lived?" Asking that question gave Asuka a sudden flashback of her Eva's demise. She was shivering so harshly against the memory that she not noticed the large cutting knife lying in the sink and cut herself across it. "SCHIEST!" She screamed quickly pulling her arm out, but blood had already leaked into the sink making the water turn a slight shade of orange only reminding Asuka of LCL.

"Oh crap! Asuka give me your wrist!" Rei ordered pulling Asuka out of her trance. "Right, sit down at the table and I'll go get the First Aid kit." Asuka complied without any argument, the action made her feel weak for obeying Rei's orders. "Okay, I've got the kit so let's see this cut!" Rei examined the cut with complete concentration.

_Rei would make a great doctor!_ _But then again, this isn't the first time Rei has examined your wounds!_ The first few days after Third Impact, Asuka's wounds had become severely infected due to a lack a medication and because there weren't any doctors around their area, Rei out of the three girls, had been in charge of taking care of Asuka's injuries. _She didn't even seem to mind! Not that I was happy about it, and I'm still having to receive help from First Child! This is pathetic, you should be doing this! Not Wonder Girl._

Hearing herself insult Rei had left Asuka to feel a sudden pang of guilt. _Mein gott Asuka, now you're feeling guilty about insulting Rei! You're getting too soft! _

Asuka began to contemplate the relationship between the two former Eva pilots. Asuka could still remember the anger and shame she held towards herself as she heard the words of affirmation come from Rei's mouth to hear that she, the Great Asuka Langley Sohryu, the Second Child and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 02, failed at the one thing that she devoted her whole life to. It was even worse for Asuka when Rei rescued her from Arael's mind-rape.

_That __arshloch__! How dare it make me remember everything that was fucked up in my life! That thing made me remember why it never would have work out between Kaji and I. It then had the nerve to make me remember just how messed my feelings were for Shinji! He wouldn't even hold me after it happened, instead asked me to help him! Then friggin' tried to strangle me when I said "No." Selfish bastard! _Asuka wasn't sure how she had been able to live, but somehow Shinji's insanity abated and released her throat. _Shinji had been so horrified when he realised what he was doing!_ She remembered his mumbled apologies repeated over and over again, then ran out of the kitchen leaving Asuka feeling cold and alone.

After that incident, Asuka packed up all her things and ran to Hikari's house, which she considered to be apart from the look out of Tokyo-3, Asuka's fortress of solitude. A place where no one may intrude or be harmed by anyone of the outside world, but she had failed to synchronise with her Eva, she lost her self-worth and suddenly the only place she found herself worthy of was wasting away in a bathtub of a demolished house.

A shot of pain spread through her arm forcing Asuka to come back to reality. She hissed in pain when Rei poured disinfectant onto her cut, but she instantly regretted her reaction because it now showed Rei that Asuka was in pain.

"Sorry Asuka but I need to disinfect it or it'll be even more painful! You should know from experience," gently reminding the seventeen year old.

"I never did thank you that time." Asuka mumbled, feeling somewhat shameful for her past actions.

"I don't want you to thank me, because we're alike. We're both too selfish and too ignorant to thank someone for their help! I never thanked Shinji for going in Eva in my place..." Rei admitted, Asuka detected a tint of sadness in Rei's voice.

"I read about his first battle but I never knew why!"

Asuka noticed a small smile appear on Rei's lips at her memories of Shinji. "I was injured, badly during an episode with my Eva. I was severely wounded and in extreme pain. When he noticed that one of my stitches had reopened, he knew that there was no way I could've fought the angel and survive. So, Shinji went in my place!"

Rei looked up to Asuka and noticed the astonishment sketched across her features. "Pretty amazing, right? I mean, how many fourteen year old boys would have done that exact same thing and risk their life for a random stranger?"

Asuka would've liked to replied with an answer and prove that Rei was stupid for asking, but Asuka had nothing. _**No one**_ in their right mind would willing put themselves in danger for a someone they had only met seconds before, just like no one in their right mind would literally jump into a volcano for a girl who constantly put you down.

No one. Except Shinji Ikari.

Asuka's attitude towards Shinji had harshly portrayed him as a pathetic human being that feared everyone surrounding him, but secretly she saw him as a kind young boy whom deserved nothing more but praise and glory for willing sacrificing his happiness for the rest of humanity. She never knew that it was unfair that all his courageous effects would be rewarded heartache and loss.

Shinji's intentions for piloting Eva had been noble; to save humanity. Asuka's were for her own selfish purposes; approval and value. However, no matter what either pilot's intentions may have been, fate did not look kindly upon either pilot and instead, both were given the same punishment. An act of injustice on Shinji's behalf. _He didn't deserve all the pain you gave him, Asuka. He was sweet and kind to you, always trying to become closer but you threw it back in his face._

_**That's not true! I tried to help him get out of his shell! All those insults and taunts were so I could get him to fight back! I appreciated everything that he did! I really did care for him! **_The other part of her mind stated. _Great! __**NOW**__ I'm turning __schizophrenic!_

_Now, now Asuka this is just the summarising of both sides to your perception of Shinji! It's true though, you did care for Shinji. In fact, at the best of times you were flirting with him! Of course he so dense to not have realised it. I mean __**COME ON**__ surely you would've thought he'd get the hint with that time I was wearing my bikini and then asking about a sexual question on thermal expansion! Or when I asked him to kiss me!_ Asuka sighed, only Shinji would've been that naive not to have realised that she was practically throwing herself to him.

_**Yeah but that was before the fourteenth angel! That was before I was beaten by him. Before he stole my chance for glory and praise! That selfish coward, I hate him! **_

_Asuka, that's a lie and you know it! When will you realise that you were not outdone by him? When will you realise that piloting Eva was not a competition? Shinji came back because he knew that if he didn't then we'd all die! He was so determined to leave, to give up all the glory and praise, but as soon as he saw both you & Rei fail and almost die, he piloted again. Shinji did it for humanity, his friends and for both of you. Rei... me... _

Asuka inwardly sighed. Her inner voice was right; Shinji didn't have to pilot Eva that time but he chose too. Then once again, he became the hero and suffered the consequences for his actions. _A whole month inside Unit 01! Mein gott! A whole month trapped within its core. Trapped, just like his mother. Like mama..._

A revelation instantly hit her like a ton of bricks.

_Mama had been trapped! For ten years mama's soul had been trapped in that thing! She sacrificed herself so she could be my AT field, so I could pilot Unit 02! SEELE must have realised, so that's why I became the pilot! Why Shinji was Unit 01's designated pilot! Both our mothers sacrificed themselves for us! But what about Rei? Why didn't I realise all of this any sooner? _"Schiest!" She whispered, her heart beat began to increase.

"Asuka what's wrong?" Rei urgently asked. Asuka could begin to feel the weight of the world crush and suddenly she couldn't remember the ability of breathing. "Oh god! You're hyperventilating!"

The next few minutes were a blur for the seventeen year old but she could recall Rei placing a brown paper bag over her mouth and hearing _"That's it!"_, _"Keep going"_, quiet cheers and for one moment, Asuka was almost certain that Rei had stroked her hair. However, Asuka didn't mind because it was comforting feeling, like a little girl being taken care of by her mother.

_A mother..._ Asuka's heart suddenly ached. _I wish it was you mama that was doing this- giving me love and comfort, stroking my hair and telling me everything will be okay in the end, making me feel safe. You mama and not Rei. Not this girl whom I've called a doll for so long! _A bitter chuckle escaped her lips a moment afterward the paper bag surrounding them, was pulled away. _How ironic, a girl that I named as a doll taking the duties of a mother! That is fucked! _

"You'd make a great mother, Rei!" They were the only words Asuka could ever say to make Rei's blood turn cold.

Rei looked at her former co-pilot with a look of disbelief. She felt somewhat shocked to hear those same words Shinji once said, now come from Asuka's lips. Another moment later a smile curved itself onto Rei's features. _Nearly four years apart and they still think alike, they can still synchronise. I wonder if they have the same traits as each other but do not realise? If one cries, will the other proceed to do so?_

Asuka couldn't help but laugh a little when she noticed sudden discomfort and a small blush painted Rei's snow-white cheeks.

Rei looked back at Asuka and couldn't help but laugh a little herself as she drew to a conclusion. _Even divided, they act with one mind. _

End of Chapter 12.

AN: I know, I've made a few manga references but it helps me keep the characters in their... character obviously! I've only read one manga comic book so far but apparentally after reading data off Wikipedia, Rei says she's in love with Shinji! **NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!** But of course it could be in a sisterly fashion, right? If that's the case, then I'm cool with it! So please review and give me your opinion because I'm feeling vulnerable at the thought of Shinji/Rei pairing!

Anyway... this chapter was basically Asuka getting along with Rei and realising a few things about her Eva; the beginning of Asuka of regaining some closure for her Eva's demise which I always get upset about! So I have to turn away during that part of the movie because it's too upsetting watching my favourite Eva be killed in a such a horrific manner! Wouldn't you agree?

Thanks for everyone who has reviewed so far for this fanfiction and I'll try update soon.


	13. More than just a child's toy

Chapter 13: More than just a child's toy 

_"Asuka..." Shinji finally remembered the reason of why he was in Unit 01. He looked up hoping that the news of Evangelion Unit 02 had been exaggerated by Maya._

_Sadly, fate was not so kind to him._

_The infamous four-eyed, red mecha once renowned as the proud being Eva Unit 02, known as the production model and considered to be the world's first "real" Evangelion, was now no longer anything of those great things. Stripped of the armour it had once protected it, LCL and blue body fluid mixed together and flowed freely off the creature's mangled form. Shinji gazed into the brown eyes of the Evangelion, noticing that one of the four was dangling carelessly from its socket while a crooked smile could be seen from the corners of its now revealed jaw._

_**Smiling?**_

_He watched in horror as he witnessed the creature's upper body was broken apart from the rest of its mangled form and carried into the sky by one of the MP Evas. The white-winged Eva dragged the creature's torso as if they were simply a little child dragging their favourite toy carelessly on the ground behind them._

_**How can it be smiling?**_

_Shinji's eyes widened with disbelief as his eyes trailed over the other ripped parts of Unit 02's body._

_**No this can't be happening!**_

_The Eva's right arm had been completely slip in half._

_**Asuka what have they done to you?**_

_Its organs were now scattered everywhere._

_**This is all my fault!**_

_The MP Evas simply glided through the sky like innocent vultures._

_**She's dead! Asuka's dead because of me!**_

_"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

_**ASUKA!!**_

* * *

Shinji woke up instantly. Gasping for air, his body shaking uncontrollably from the horrific memory.

"Woah Shinji, are you okay? You looked freaked out!" Kensuke pointed out, instantly after being awoken from Shinji's cries.

"I'm fine Kensuke," Shinji mumbled to his room mate. "Go back to sleep." Getting up from his bed to grab a glass of water.

"Like hell I will," Kensuke growled, getting out of his own bed. "With the way you were tossing and turning, I'd say something was bothering you. Is it Realistic-Girl because honestly, if she's giving you dreams like that, then we'll quicken the pace and try to find this girl before we leave," he had finished reassuringly as they entered the kitchen.

"It's not about Realistic-Girl," Shinji muttered, taking a huge gulp from his glass. He breathed in and out deeply to settle his nerves, but quickly noticed that he was still shaking and slightly shivering. _Shivering?_ He touched his cheek and when he realised that it had been sweat, Shinji frowned slightly. _I don't usually sweat this much after these nightmares!_

"Then what is it?" Kensuke noticed his voice raising slightly from frustration. However, he didn't give a damn.

"Keep it down! You'll wake up Touji and Kaworu," Shinji whispered sharply. He would be officially screwed if either one of those other guys woke up.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," his voice became even louder and Shinji winced.

"Could we not talk about this now? Really, I'm fine. I was just having a bad dream, that's all." He stated calmy, but his brain retorted against him. _More like a nightmare, don't you mean?_

Of course, Kensuke was smarter than that and did not believe him. "Of course, Shinji. Whispering Asuka's name continuously in your sleep makes you have bad dreams!" Rolling his eyes. "I knew that you always had a thing for her when we were younger, but Shinji usually those kind of dreams don't leave guys freaked out, gasping for air and shaking uncontrollably. Then again, this is the Devil we're talking about." Kensuke chuckled at the small joke, though he noticed that Shinji did not seem amused.

Shinji blushed at the thought of what his friend was implying. _Great now he thinks I'm having "those" kind of dreams about her!_ "It's not like that," the ex-pilot rebutted in a soft tone, only to feel his conscience ache from its three years of pent up sorrow. _Asuka... I'm so sorry... It's no wonder why you left me..._ "And I don't blame you for it..." he was meant to have said that to himself but Kensuke heard.

"Excuse me?"

_Fuck!_ "Nothing. Just forget I said anything," Shinji placed his glass in the sink and gave a fake yawn. "Man, I'm tired. Good night Kensuke." He said, walking past Kensuke and was almost at the bedroom door until he heard Kensuke protest.

"Shinji wait!" The military expert walked over to him. "Come on I know something is wrong. Why won't you tell me?"

"It's stupid really and I'd be only wasting your sleeping time," Shinji replied shrugging his shoulders. _You don't deserve to have this on your conscience!_

"Sleep can wait," Kensuke retorted. "Come on, Shinji. I'm your friend aren't I and to be a friend requires listening to their problems. So why won't you tell me? Don't you trust me, Shinji?" If he was comfortable with being completely honest to himself, Kensuke would willingly admit that he was afraid of Shinji's answer because truthfully, he had always felt like that he was never that close to Shinji like Touji or Kaworu. Although it sounded pathetic, it hurt the young computer genius.

"I do trust you, Kensuke, believe me but it's just that... this is one of my most painful memories and I've NEVER talked to anyone about it. And to be honest, I don't this is something I'll ever be able to talk about it," Shinji was beginning to feel strangely vulnerable from his explanation. He didn't like it.

"Well if it were either Touji or Kaworu then I'm sure you'd have no problem at all!" Inwardly rolling his eyes and slapping himself at his childish rebuttal. _Goddamn it, I sound like a fucking primary school girl having a hissy fit at her best friend just because she won't tell her best friend her big dark secret! Kill me now Lord before I lose all signs of manliness!_

"No!" Shinji protested, shocked that his friend felt that way about their friendship. "I don't think I would even be able to tell either of them and they were both Eva pilots." Quickly regretting what he said.

"So it's Eva related..."

_Shit._ A sigh escaped his lips. _Great now I HAVE to tell him!_ Strangely, the idea suddenly sounded appealing to the ex-Eva pilot. _I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to finally tell someone, I'm sick and tired of keeping this in. Besides, Kensuke needs to know the truth about Eva and what it can do to its pilot. Basically killing two birds with one stone in a fucked up sort of way..._ "Alright, I'll tell you. But grab some strong liquor from the mini fridge and then close the door behind you. I have a feeling you'll be needing the liquor as much as I do."

Kensuke complied, running to the fridge and grabbing all the bottles. Although he knew that they were both underage, they could always refill the bottles with water and tea, something Kensuke had learnt from watching an old school movie. Kensuke gently placed all the mini bottles on the side table between Shinji and his bed, then ran over to close the door behind him.

Once Shinji noticed that the door was indeed shut, he opened the small bottle of scotch and took it in one shot. _Damn this stuff's strong._ A tired sigh escaped his lips as he watched Kensuke grabbed the bottle of tequila, situating himself on the edge of his bed just like Shinji had. Both made eye contact and Shinji went into a deep train of thought. "Kensuke before I begin, just know that I'm only telling you about the reason why I have these nightmares and nothing else. Don't take it to heart, it's just too much to explain tonight about my whole experience as an Eva pilot, and even then I'm still unsure about certain parts."

"I understand. Just take your time," Kensuke didn't want to push his friend, realising how difficult it was to have Shinji to tell him in the first place.

"You know how I told you, Touji & Kaworu what caused Third Impact."

"Yeah... it was the forbidden fusion of Adam and Lillith, who had been Rei." It always made Kensuke shudder, knowing that the once quiet blue-haired beauty had been the one responsible to have merged all souls into one. "And the MP Evas had used Unit 01 as their medium." Again, Kensuke shuddered.

"Yes. Well to have achieved that, they needed to "crucify" me with replicas of Loginus' Lance. However, they couldn't do that until my mind was hit to a mental point which would make my Eva willingly free itself from its bindings. To do that; they used Unit 02 as a sacrifice."

"Oh fuck..." already Kensuke was slowly beginning to see why Shinji requested alcohol. "What happened? I mean how did... surely Asuka wouldn't have allowed her Eva to be used as bait for yours."

"No she wouldn't," he paused. Kensuke quickly noticed Shinji's warm & kind colbalt-blue eyes suddenly becoming cold and hard, as if he were facing his father after Bardiel's death all over again. Somehow, it unsettled Kensuke. "But she didn't have much of a choice."

"So..."

"On the day of Third Impact, Asuka was in a coma making her completely unable to synchronise with her Eva, but when Misato realised that the JSSDF was after the Eva pilots, she immediately ordered Asuka to be placed in Unit 02. While Misato was driving me to Unit 01, apparently Asuka had woken up and was in complete control of her Eva! Misato was completely astounded at the news. I was too, yet at the same time I was filled with hope because in that morning, I had visited Asuka at the hospital and finally admitted to both myself & her, that I needed her. I honestly thought she would never wake up and I'd lose all chances of finally being happy."

Seeing Shinji's look of pure content, surprised Kensuke slightly. _So you really do care for her..._ "Then how come you didn't tell her when you both wake up on the beach? Why didn't you two get together?" Kensuke was genuinely curious which led him to feel a slight sting of guilt when he saw Shinji's shoulders slump.

"I wish that it had been that simple, but it's not. You see, when Asuka had managed to activate Unit 02 the JSSDF instantly began attacking her. Of course being in an Eva, it was pointless seeing's though you've got twelve-thousand plates of fortified armour and an AT field. However, it doesn't mean that they can't cut off the power."

"You mean the umbilical cable, right?"

"Exactly," he nodded solemnly. "Asuka only had five minutes in her Eva's internal batteries, yet she was still able to defeat them. Unfortunately, the victory was only short-lived when SEELE sent out the rest of the Evas series and in which that time I was still trying to get to my Eva."

"You mean- oh god," Kensuke almost choked on his tequila. "She had to take on all nine Evas by herself?" When Shinji nodded, the computer genius could feel queasiness begin to settle in his stomach. _And it isn't from the alcohol._

"Yes and believe it or not, Asuka was able to take on all of them before time ran out," Kensuke knew that Shinji wasn't finished.

"Then what happened?"

"I don't really know much about what happened next, you know that I wasn't able to get to Unit 01 because of the bakelite." Shinji paused, feeling ashamed at remembering his past cowardice. "While I was spending all of Unit 02's time by sitting around and feeling sorry for myself, I heard Asuka mention the Lance of Loginus before I heard her scream. I guess that one of the Lance replicas managed to get through her AT field and pierce itself into her Eva's body."

Kensuke involuntarily cringed at the thought. He could recall Touji or Shinji once mentioning that whenever an Eva sustained injury, the pilot would feel the exact same pain. _Damn that wouldn't have turned out good for her! At least that's the only injury she got._

As if he could read Kensuke's mind, Shinji continued. "I wish that I can say that was the only injury she sustained, but I'm sorry to say that it got a lot worse. You see Kensuke, the rest of the Eva series all were equipped with the S2 engines and dummy plugs..."

The military expert knew what the two Evangelion objects were and the purpose of both, the realisation made feel his blood turn cold. "You mean that... they... Asuka..."

"They reactivated," Shinji finished as it were the most simple thing in the world. However, hearing those two small words tore his insides apart and he was beginning to feel the tears well up in his eyes. "They fucking reactivated, Kensuke! They FUCKING reactivated! And they attacked her. Those FUCKING MONSTERS tore Unit 02 apart and GOD FUCKING DAMNIT, I wasn't there to help her! I was busy feeling too sorry for myself to try to get into my Eva! Asuka died because of me!" At that point a few tears managed to escape his eyes and rolled down his cheeks at a painfully slow pace but he didn't care nor could he be bothered to wipe them away.

Watching at just how much pain he was in, Kensuke genuinely wished that he had never asked Shinji the horrors of Third Impact. "Fuck man, I'm sorry for asking. I should have known that this was a touchy subject for you, but then again I've always been a real asshole when it comes to getting answers. We don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't want to."

"No it's okay," the ex-pilot assured t his friend after calming himself down. "I want to tell you. I need to tell you! I can't keep holding this in, every night I keep having nightmares of seeing Unit 02's face. It keeps smiling at me and it shouldn't! Damn it Kensuke, I'm tired of pretending like it's all okay. For one night I just want to sleep without seeing that corpse."

A thought had struck Kensuke at the back of his mind like a sledgehammer to concrete. "Corpse? Shinji, I know Evas possessed human qualities, but they aren't human!"

Shinji gave a short chuckle only to have be one of disgust & bitterness. "That's where you're wrong, Kensuke. Evas are human and each one had possessed a human soul."

This time Kensuke did choke on his tequila. Shinji rushed over to his friend's side and hit him on the back to regain his delayed air supply, when the computer expert managed to breathe again, he spoke. "Fuck Shinji, humans?! You mean to tell me those things that I had once dreamed of piloting were actually humans?!" Kensuke was in disbelief, how could something that sounded so impossible was actually in fact true? He hoped that he was wrong, that Shinji was making this all up as a prank but the ex-pilot's exterior was too serious to be a joke.

"I'm afraid so Kensuke. Unit 01 possessed the soul of my mother." He whispered regretfully, feeling the weight of the world beginning to crush his shoulders again.

"Your... mother? Did you know the whole time? How did you find out?"

"Well I had always felt some form of a presence in the Eva, but I was never able to put my finger on it. Until the day of Third Impact when Asuka finally confirmed it for me that it was my mother," Shinji answered as he went back to sit on his bed.

"Wait, what?" Kensuke was becoming more confused by the second. He was certain that his brain was about to explode from all this new data. "How did she figure it out? Was she ever in your Eva?"

Shinji shook his head, almost regretful for what he was about to say next. "No. She figured it out when she was in her own Eva. I realised then that Evangelion Unit 02 possessed the soul of her mother."

"Asuka's mother?" The computer geek ignored his sense of deja vu, closing his eyes as he could feel sympathy flood his conscious. _Damn I can't believe I'm thinking this but wow, I actually feel bad for Asuka! No wonder why she was acted like such a bitch during all that time. Losing your mother to become a weapon you later on have to control, but you can never know about, I'd guess you would be acting angry towards the world._ "So I'm guessing that her mother died when she was young too."

"Yeah..." the eighteen year old replied. "During Third Impact, our minds both merged together and I saw everything- her childhood, her dreams and her true feelings. I finally understood why she was who she was and I finally realised that I was just like her."

"How?" Kensuke asked. "How are you just like her?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, but lets just say that we almost had the exact same childhood. And..." he paused for a moment. "I understand why she left me on that beach. And honestly, I can't blame her for it."

Kensuke let the words sink in which left him only with a dull headache. "That is just fucked." Was the only thing Kensuke could say, pinching the bridge of his nose as a method to ease some of the pain.

"Tell me about it," Shinji muttered. "What you have to know Kensuke, is that Asuka was never a bad person. The only reason why she had always been so cruel towards us because she was afraid. The thought of getting closer to another person was terrifying and her only way to function was to push people away. No one understands that, but I do and if I ever get to see her again, I will let her know that."

Although Kensuke never really approved the idea of Shinji and Asuka getting together when he was younger, Kensuke now couldn't help but smile a little at the thought. "Is that a promise?"

Noticing his friend's smile, Shinji wore one of his own. "Definitely."

A moment of comfortable silence passed between the young men, neither wanting to ruin it. However, Kensuke had one more question to ask and Shinji had one more answer to give. "Shinji, when you said that it was seeing Unit 02's form which made you hit your breaking point, why was it that? Wasn't Misato's death enough?"

Shinji winced at the mentioning of his former guardian. Misato's death had always been a delicate subject to bring up in front of Shinji; it was something Shinji had never been able to come to terms with. The most painful part about her death was that she died protecting him, Misato took the bullet so that Shinji could pilot Unit 01 and to join Asuka in the battle to prevent Third Impact. He could've redeemed both Misato's death and the earlier incident with Asuka at the hospital by piloting his Eva, he could've fixed his wrongs with the two women whom he had both cared for and loved unconditionally.

Instead, Shinji just sat there: he didn't try shouting to his mother, he didn't try to walk onto the bakelite itself, he did nothing as he listened to the sounds of a dying Eva and the announcement that its pilot joined along with it in death.

Shinji knew that he'd have to deal with both issues one day. But for right now, the eighteen year old only wanted to focus on defeating the taunting demons that haunt him every night and silently agreed with himself that he would accept his mistakes at another time. "Because to me, Unit 02 wasn't just an Evangelion. When we fought the angels, Asuka had had so much pride for her position as an Eva pilot that to me, I saw Unit 02 as Asuka herself. I'm a bit ashamed to admit this but, I was always more worried about Asuka piloting Eva than I ever was with Rei."

Kensuke looked at his friend with astonishment, however, Shinji paid no attention and continued. "I mean sure, I was concerned about Rei after the Ramiel but that was because she risked her life to protect me. She did it because it was her duty as both an Eva pilot and a sister. When Asuka almost died in the volcano, I risked my own life to save her. I didn't have to; I had no obligation to save Asuka whatsoever. She would've been just another casualty but I still did it Kensuke, I still saved her life. I just couldn't let her die."

After remembering that he had finished his miniature bottle of scotch, Shinji reached his arm over to the bedside table and this time claimed a small bottle of whiskey. "And although she would never admit it, I knew that Asuka was grateful for it. I realised that when we were fighting Matriel because in order to defeat it, Asuka devised a plan and took the most dangerous position in order to protect me. It was her way to pay me back for risking my life to save hers. I think, if it had been Rei that took that position to prevent the acid bath, I wouldn't have given it much thought but when Asuka said she was taking it, I protested. Then as we were all playing to our roles, I remember myself yelling to Rei to hurry up so Asuka wouldn't have to take anymore of the pain and when I finally killed the Angel, I dropped Unit 01's rifle and caught Unit 02. In that exact moment something formed between us and I knew that Asuka trusted me as much as I trusted her."

It was amazing for Kensuke to not only listen to the details of Angel battles, but also the relationships that were formed during that time. Noticing his friend's great interest, the ex-pilot continued. "Sadly, those were only the few good moments from piloting Eva and after Leliel's appearance, everything went downhill from there. You already know about Bardiel and what it did to me, but do you want to know what was going through my mind when Zeruel appeared?"

Kensuke knew that it was a rhetorical question, yet he still felt compelled to speak. "You were about to leave Tokyo 3 before the Zeruel attacked, so what was going through your mind at that time Shinji?"

Another empty chuckle escaped Shinji's lips before finishing the rest of his whiskey. "When I was in the shelter, all I thought about was Asuka's opinion on evacuation training. I remember the exact words, she had said; _"Evacuation training? What are you, stupid? That stuff's not for pilots like us!"_ And you know what happened then? There was an explosion causing the roof to collapse and the first thing I see when I opened my eyes was Unit 02's head. I completely froze, I felt like I was staring at Asuka. I ran out of that shelter to see if what had happened to her and when I finally did, my heart felt like it had been crushed."

Once again Shinji paused before reclaiming a new bottle of strong spirits, this time it was brandy. "It hurt like hell because in a fucked sort of way, I felt like I had let her down, but I admit she wasn't the only reason I decided to pilot again. It was finally Kaji that made me decided whether to pilot or not. I remember him telling me to forget about my past and make a decision for myself by myself. Kaji was a really great guy, it was hard on all of us when he died." Shinji could begin to feel another sorrowful wound from the past reopen again, reminding him that he would need to seal it soon or it'll become infected and forever leave a nasty scar upon his skin.

_Let it go, Shinji. It's all in the past and there's nothing you can do about it._ "Well you already you the rest of that story: Defeated the Angel, was stuck in the Eva for a month, ecetera, ecetera." He used his left hand to do hand expressions displaying the irrelevance of that story before sculling the rest of his brandy.

"Knowing Asuka, I bet she must've been really pissed off at not being able to finish that Angel off," Kensuke said.

"She was, believe me. It got even worse for her when her synch ratio began to fall and felt like I had beaten her at piloting. Then it happened," Kensuke didn't need an explanation, he had already read it in the NERV reports that he had managed to hack into. "Sometimes I can still hear Asuka screaming for it to stop; for the pain to go away and no longer have be plagued by such horrible memories. I thought it had been painful watching her Eva get decapitated, but this... listening to that thing raping her mind, it tore me apart. Fuck, I even volunteered to go out in Unit 01 and risk getting my own mind fucked with just so she wouldn't have to suffer any longer."

For the next part of his story, Shinji had to refrain himself from throwing the empty bottle against the wall. "Of course, Gendo wouldn't allow me and Rei had to use the real Lance to destroy Arael. But I swear Kensuke, Asuka was never the same after that. I knew that there was still a chance for her to recover. Unfortunately, during Armisael's attack when Maya announced that Asuka's synch ratio was under ten percent, that was the final blow to her psyche and... Asuka lost all hope of ever making it through."

Shinji wasn't sure whether he had the mental strength or not to continue with the final chapter of Asuka's downfall and he soon noticed that he was beginning to fell ill, but because of his height, Shinji knew that it wasn't a result from the alcohol. "She ran away and Section Two found her seven days later; lying naked in a bathtub filled with dirty water in the ruins of a destroyed house. Those assholes," the dark-haired adolescent quickly bit his tongue before he completely lost it and woke up the others.

"They purposely let her go missing, they didn't give a fuck about Asuka at all! Section Two simply let her reach to the point where she's almost dead, before remembering that she was still apart of their job. Of course I didn't know where she was either, so do you want to know what I did, Kensuke?"

Another rhetorical question Kensuke noted, which once again, he felt compelled to ask. "Well knowing you, Shinji, if you couldn't have spoken with Asuka herself, then you would've went somewhere that would have held some sort of significance for her."

The ex-pilot smiled at his friend's quick problem-solving brain, "Right on the target, Kensuke! Because I didn't know where she was, I went for the second best thing: Eva Unit 02. " Shinji let out a short chuckle as he thought back to that moment. "It's funny when I think about it now. Never in my free time would I have voluntarily gone to see my own Eva or even Rei's if I could ever help it, but for some reason I felt compelled to visit Asuka's Eva."

Shinji could begin to feel his eyes become heavy, an indication that his body was responding from the lack of sleep. _No I can't fall asleep now, not when I'm almost finished!_ "I remembering standing there and asking where she disappeared to. To me, it felt like Asuka was actually standing right in front of me and I realised that even if I did see her again, what would I have even talked to her about? She was so messed up with her own problems, she didn't need to hear any of mine. That would have been so selfish of me to do that, but I wouldn't have cared." After counting the empty bottles on the side table, Shinji realised that he nearly consumed half of the lot while Kensuke was still finishing his first. _Maybe that's why I'm feeling so goddamn tired._

"I spent the longest time there, just simply standing there and thinking about Asuka and how everything had gone so wrong for the both of us. After that I wondered around and ended up by the lake and that's when I met Kaworu. Well you know what happened next."

Kensuke nodded, feeling genuine sympathy for his friend at the realisation that this had been the second time he had to hurt both a friend and fight an Evangelion. "It must've been hard for you. Knowing that you had to kill Kaworu."

"It was," pausing to claim a mini-bottle of tequila of his own. "Out of all the Angels, that final battle was the hardest, not only because I knew I had to kill Kaworu, although it was him who had wished for death. For me to have given it, I would have given him freedom. No, that final battle was the hardest because I had to make a sacrifice. I had to fight my own kind, once my companion in Angel warfare was now my enemy. I felt like shit just watching my own Eva destroy Unit 02. It wasn't fair that I had to make that decision! It wasn't fair that I had to kill the Eva that had always obeyed its orders, the one had always been willing to fight until death, the one that truly believed in its purpose. It wasn't fair because to me, that Eva was just like its pilot and I had to fight her! I had to hurt Asuka!" Softly shaking his head, Shinji could feel tears beginning to well in his eyes again.

Kensuke felt awkward as he was uncertain whether Shinji was still sober or not, he was about to suggest that they could discuss it another night until Shinji continued. "No Kensuke, I'm not drunk, I've just been giving this a lot of thought," he stated calmly, regaining his composure. "I know that it sounds fucked up, but that's the reason. That's the reason why seeing Unit 02's form made me hit my breaking point, Kensuke. When I saw that corpse, all I saw was Asuka and I knew that all pain & agony Unit 02 went through, Asuka went through as well. Now can you understand?"

As all the new data flowed into his mind, the computer genius finally understood what his friend meant and in some bizarre way, Kensuke finally understood just how important both Asuka & her Eva were for the young ex-pilot. Letting his tongue trail along his bottom lip, a thoughtful frown appeared on his features and finally Kensuke nodded. "Yes, I finally do."

Hearing his reply, Shinji smiled making Kensuke do the same. "Thank you for understanding, and thanks for not judging me. I'm finally glad that I got this off my conscience!"

"I should be thanking you for telling me all of this! I know that this hadn't been easy for you, but I'm glad that you did tell me." Because now, their friendship was no longer about joking around, being support for each other or anything else. Now, their friendship contained a special bond between the two, that neither Kaworu or Touji will ever understand and Kensuke couldn't help but feel content at the thought. "And after everything you told me of what piloting Eva can do to its pilot, I now know that piloting Eva wasn't some glorious thing. It had been a curse for you, not a blessing because it caused everyone nothing but pain & grief."

_Score, I completed both my goals in one night!_ "Well that's good to hear," Shinji let out a tired yawn, making him wonder what the time was. He was mildly surprised when the digital clock announced that it was 3:54 a.m. No wonder why I'm beginning to feel so tired; we've been talking for over an hour now! "I don't know about you, Kensuke but I wanna get some more sleep before breakfast."

Kensuke let out a yawn of his own. "I'll second that notion. I'll just deal with these bottles and I'm off to dream land!"

"Well when you do promise me that you won't whisper your mystery girl's name continuously, wake up freaked out, gasping for air and shaking uncontrollably," Shinji pleaded sarcastically, repaying his friend for his earier comment.

"Baz-zing! You fucker," Kensuke replied, not appreciating his friend's sense of humour, however, Shinji laughed.

"Oh come on, you gotta admit that you had that one coming!" He said, holding his hands up in his defence and continued laughing until Kensuke finally joined along. Kensuke had to agree.

He _**did**_ had that one coming.

End of Chapter 13.

AN: Holy shit, this was the longest chapter for any of the stories that I have ever written! When I had first begun this chapter I wasn't sure whether to have had either Touji or Kaworu initiating this conversation with Shinji and I finally decided that it should be Kensuke as I had really written that much about him and I felt it was important to show what the relationship was like between them rather than have him as a two-dimensional cutout. I know that I hadn't really given more background to Kensuke's story, but I felt it was more important to focus on Shinji and his opinions on Asuka piloting and why he went schizophrenic after seeing Unit 02's mangled form.

That's my opinion anyway of why he completely lost it. Because to me, I always believed that Shinji was a lot more concerned about the welfare of Unit 02 rather than his own Eva or Rei's. In my opinion, he saw Unit 02 as being actually Asuka herself and there's a few moments during the whole series to back up my statement. In the final battle when Unit 02 is possessed by Kaworu, Shinji says; _"Asuka, I'm sorry..."_ before attacking the Eva. Now he knew that she wasn't inside of the Eva, that was the whole reason why Kaworu "supposedly" came to Tokyo-3 in the first place, to play his role as the Fifth Child. Had Asuka been inside the Eva, I'm sure Shinji may have been a lot more concerned or reluctant about fighting.

Also, earlier in that episode when Shinji decides to visit Unit 02 and as he stares at it, he asks outloud; _"Where have you disappeared to, Asuka?"_ No one ever really mentions that scene in fanfics and I find it to be quite a significant moment because that's the only time he's ever decided to visit any of the Evangelions.

I may also mention that during episode 26, when Shinji he says that his only identifier is Eva and that it's enough for him to be recognised. Asuka replies; _"No, soon you may lose you're identity as I have. Soon you will lose Eva and your self-worth."_ Maybe I'm looking into this too much, I'm not sure, but Unit 02 must have a significance for Shinji because I've noticed that everytime that red Eva ever recieved some sort of damage or was in some sort of danger, Shinji would always react in a concerned manner.

Well that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it! If anyone has an opinion on the subject matter than please review and give it, because I would be really interested in hearing everyone else's views. Anyway, I hoped everyone liked this chapter even if it was over 5,500 words (excluding Author's Notes) and I'll update again. See you all later, Water-Star.

P.S.: To the readers of "A chance", just know that you'll finally get an update by next week! So stayed tuned for that.


	14. Sad hearts, gentle hearts

Chapter 14: Sad hearts, gentle hearts

"A dream?" Asuka whispered softly to herself whilst her mind was beginning to establish the difference between dreaming and reality. The first thing she noticed when she was finally awake was her head suffering from a pounding headache that had been induced by alcohol from the night before.

_A hangover?_ Asuka winced after touching the right temple with her cold fingertips. _I haven't gotten this smashed in months, so what made me-_

"Fuck," she swore, instantly remembering her reason.

* * *

_"The Lance of Loginus!" Asuka realised, her voice thick with disbelief._

_**How can that be? Ayanami sent that thing straight into space!**_

_A terrified gasp escaped her throat as she watched the weapon break through her mother's AT Field. Unfortunately, Asuka had no time to dodge the Lance and before she could realise what was going on the weapon had already impaled itself straight into Unit 02's skull, an anguished scream ripped out from the fourteen year old's mouth. Her whole head felt as though it had been pierced with a white-hot iron, forcing Asuka to clutch onto her left eye as she finally felt the pain transfer there. She was in so much pain at that precise moment that she had not even realised that Unit 02's internal batteries had finally ran out of power until everything had gone dark._

_Fear and confusion soon went through Asuka's mind as she desperately tried to find Kyoko's presence, but she could neither hear nor feel anything._

_Nothing could be heard within the entry plug but silence..._

_... except for the rapid clicking of the Eva's controls being pulled and Asuka's terrified screams._

_The red-haired pilot could feel her body's muscles begin to tense from the sudden shock whilst the sensation of warm blood was pouring itself from her eye socket leading the disgusting sticky substance to seep into her plugsuit as a puddle began to form; spreading itself all over her seat, yet she still couldn't sense her mother's presence._

_**It hurts,** she screamed inside her mind. **It hurts so bad! Move goddamn it, MOVE!**_

_Asuka kept pulling at the controls, silently begging for her mama to reappear again as she had when they were at the bottom of the lake. Helplessness soon began to seep into the girl's conscious at how futile the situation was, however, a mixture of both Asuka's stubbornness and determination made her refuse to give up._

_**Is this how Shinji felt during Zeruel's attack?** Asuka asked herself as she continued to pull the Eva's controls whilst continuously screaming for reasons she was not yet certain._

_Had he been taunted? She wondered, trying to place herself in Shinji's shoes. Did he have to endure with the little voice inside his head constantly remind him that it was futile? Was he told that no matter what he did or how hard he tried, Unit 01 would not awaken?_

_**Even without any internal power whatsoever, Unit 01 still awoke. It defeated the most dangerous Angel against all odds, all to protect its pilot. So why can't you, mama? Shinji's Eva has reactivated lots of times when it was out of power and his Eva's nothing special. Please mama wake up, please! Or if you can't then at least tell me again, mama. Please tell me that I'm still alive. Please tell me that you won't let me die, that you'll protect me. Please mama...**_

_"Please tell me that you love me. That I was never a mistake."_

_Silence filled the entry plug when Asuka realised what she had just said, spoken out loud for all the world to hear. The girl had just pleaded, no that wasn't right, Asuka had begged. The great Asuka Langley Sohryu, had actually begged for her mother's presence and to tell her daughter the words that she had always wanted her mother to say. Helplessness once again, began to seep into the girl's conscious and Asuka finally let go of the controls._

_**Okay Asuka, calm down. Misato said that Shinji will come as soon as possible so we'll just wait. In the mean time let's figure out what damage has occurred to your eye.** The German thought back to her university lectures on the human body, trying to recall what the lecturer said about the conditions of the human eye._

_**He said that it takes something drastic to permanently damage the eye and that there's no actual blood inside the eye itself, instead some sort of liquid. So how come I'm bleeding? **She felt her body completely freeze as the sickening realisation dawned upon her._

_**My eye's been dislocated...**_

_Slowly reaching for her left eye, Asuka could feel that her eye had been dislocated indeed from its respective place. Thankfully it was not enough to actually make the eyeball pop itself from its socket, however, it would need to be treated with immediately or it would worsen. A shock of pain slashed through into the young girl's head forcing her to place her left hand over eye, softly pushing onto it to relieve some of the pain. To her horror, Asuka noticed her blood beginning to sliver through her fingers and running down her hand, she soon realised that her eye was the least of her worries when she heard the sound of something flapping._

_**Wings? Unit 01 can't-**_

_Sadly, it was too late to say or do anything because before she could even register what was happening, the girl was already thrown back into her seat and enduring a pain much more excruciating than her eye. Pure & utter agony ripped through her entire being as the raven-like beings dug their teeth and claws into every inch of muscle, bone & vein that the human body possessed._

_**They're tearing her apart!** Asuka realised with despair, carefully cradling her eye with her left hand while clutching onto her abdomen with her other._

_The pilot tried pushing her stomach down as a pathetic attempt to prevent her insides from further damage, but it proved to be rather difficult due to her almost broken arm. When she successfully manage to perform the laborious task, her only reward was to be disgusted by the intuiting of warm blood seeping through her plugsuit. The pain was becoming so unbearable for the pilot, that Asuka desperately prayed for this to be all a dream that she would awaken from at any moment and when that didn't happen, she wanted nothing more than to cry, to let the tears flow from her bloodied cheeks and for once have someone fix the mess that she put herself in. __But also, Asuka wanted the torture end. Not for herself, but for her mother._

_**Those bastards, how dare they! How dare they attack you when you're so vulnerable, mama.**_

_Anger filled through her entire being as she heard them fly away, she was literally shaking with outrage at the injustices of this situation. It was too much for Asuka to keep in, to let them believe that they had won, to let them believe that they were easy prey. She couldn't let them get away with this. Her pride wouldn't let her._

_**They're nothing but vultures, mama. Filthy vultures digging around for scraps from creatures who can't defend themselves. I won't let them get away with this... I WON'T!**_

_"I'll- I'll kill you!" Raising her head up after finally managing to pronounce those three simple words, at the same time also slightly choking from the rising bile in her throat. The Evangelion's eyes instantly opened making it easy for the girl to search for her targets. Raising her arm to the sky, she repeated the same words again. "I'll kill you... I'll kill you..."_

_Her Eva roared in response, following its command and repeated its pilot's action. It was difficult at first for the Evangelion to regain the use of its damaged limbs but with determination, Unit 02 managed to lift its arm and reach to the sky._

_"I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you..." she watched in satisfaction as the Eva continued raising its arm into the sky, knowing full-well that it was now in berserk mode._

_**I did it! I finally got you to wake up, mama. Now we can fight them and they'll be sorry for ever thinking that they could knock us down.**_

_"I'll kill you... I'll kill you... I'll kill you..."_

_**This doesn't feel right... **Asuka realised, she could feel that it was her that was controlling Unit 02, not her mother._

_**Why are you hesitating, mama? Why aren't you fighting? Why aren't you protecting me?**_

_That was last thought that went through the young girl's mind before watching her right arm split in half._

* * *

"Damn it," Asuka whispered painfully. Covering her face with her hands, Asuka tried using breathing exercises as a method to prevent her tears spilling from her blue and iris eyes, but it was proving rather difficult.

_You are not going to cry. Do you hear me? You gave up crying a long time ago and you are not about to begin again._ The knocking on Asuka's door interrupted her train of thought.

"Hey Asuka it's me. Can I come in?" Rei asked in a soft manner.

"What's the secret code?" Asuka replied with soft sarcasm, quickly regaining her composure before letting her flatmate see her.

"Mana's a bitch, I have a huge ass and Arnold Schazeneggar for America's president would mean the Apocalypse," Rei said in dry humour and opened the door.

"I'm offended," frowning at Rei's choice of words.

"Hey. Take it easy, I was just joking..." the other female said, genuinely surprised at her flatmate's reaction. "But I suppose you're right. Mana isn't a bitch and I don't have a huge ass."

"No, the fact that Arnold as president would mean the end for all man kind. Of course Mana's a bitch and you have a huge ass, but that's just stating the obvious," Asuka replied before wincing from her hangover.

Rei laughed and sat herself down on the edge of her room mate's bed. "Karma is a fascinating concept. Wouldn't you agree?" Asuka cursed under her breath, yet she paid no attention.

"Anyway I came to give you this," handing the German female a glass of water & two tablets, the brunette gave Rei a confused look before the eighteen year old continued. "Seeing's though you finished off all the tequila and rum."

"I only drunk that much? I could've sworn I drunk a lot more," Asuka mumbled and swallowed the aspirin without bothering to drink the water. The bitterness made her regret her earlier decision and she took a huge gulp of water to remove the taste.

"Well I was trying to be nice by lying but you're too smart for it," Rei said in singsong manner before continuing in a much more serious tone.

"You drunk all the tequila, rum, brandy, whiskey and still managed to get two cans of beer in. How you did it, I do not know but you should be grateful that you didn't wake up this morning in a hospital bed with your stomach being pumped!"

Asuka had noticed Rei's voice continuously rising as she told the seventeen year old of her actions last night, watching in surprise for it to get to the point in which the former pilot of Unit 00 stood up and placed her hands on her hips, towering over the German female. Looking at Rei's stance reminded Asuka of a parent scolding their child.

_Wow, Rei actually looks pissed for once and not when I lied to her!_ Remembering the moment when her flatmate found out about the boys being in Kyoto. _Fuck, I hope she isn't planning on giving me a lecture on safe drinking. I don't think my brain will be able to cope with the noise._

"I can't believe you were so careless last night! What the fuck were you thinking drinking that much alcohol? You could've gotten alcohol poisoning or choked on your own vomit while you were sleeping!" Rei almost yelled before closing her eyes and she shuddered at the horrific thoughts.

Asuka was genuinely surprised to see that her actions could gain such a reaction from the once quiet woman. The young woman occupying the German's attention at that moment, soon regained her composure before she continued speaking in a more softer tone.

"Does your life mean so little to you?"

The question felt like a punch in the stomach for Asuka. _How could she even think that after all I went through during Third Impact?_ She asked herself with disbelief.

Had Rei completely forgotten how hard Asuka fought to defeat her demons so she could come back? Could she not remember the connection between them during their journey to help Asuka rediscover herself? Or how grateful she had been for everything that Rei had done to allow her to regain her physical form?

_Probably not,_ Asuka figured, remembering that the two former pilots hadn't been exactly on good terms until only a few days ago when Rei had given Asuka that ticket to go to the dance.

_**No Asuka,** _the other part of her mind argued._ **You haven't been on good terms with her, the little voice inside her head said. Rei has been trying to be your friend since you found both her & Mana on the beach. She wants to be closer to you, but you haven't been making it any easier on her, **_making her realise with hurt, that the little voice inside her mind was right; making her feel ashamed to rethink of the moment she had decided that she wanted to come back.

_I had promised Lillith that I was going to change... I had told Misato that I wasn't going to let the past control my life anymore and that I would let it go..._ Asuka remembered, feeling her heart being constricted from those once short-pleasant memories. _I promised Mrs Ikari that I would take care of her son... I broke my promises, each and every one of them..._

"I haven't changed at all. I'm a terrible person," Asuka whispered. She hadn't realised that she had spoken out loud. "I shouldn't even be here."

Rei's features softened at the words Asuka had inflicted upon herself, watching with sadness as the German curled her body into a small ball. Once again, portraying the vulnerable & broken young girl that Rei had only witnessed just last night.

* * *

**_"I'm broken... Scattered into pieces... Shattered in the reasons... Standing here... I'm broken..."_**

Rei instantly awoke from the loud music, alarmed to realise that it was coming from Asuka's room. Although her flatmate had a tendency of playing her music really loud, the German would usually make sure that no one was home at the time and she would usually be doing it during the middle of the day when all her neighbours were out.

_Something's wrong,_ the ex-pilot of Unit 00 realised, worried that something may be wrong with her friend. Quickly, Rei jumped out of her bed and ran to Asuka's bedroom, not bothering to change into more appropriate clothes or place a jumper over her black singlet.

"Asuka!" She cried out, opening Asuka's door wide open only to find the person in question huddled into the corner of her bed, weeping hysterically and repeating the word _'Mama' _over & over again.

"Asuka..." Rei said again in a more softer tone, feeling her heart break at the sight. Walking over slowly, the eighteen year old approached the younger girl as if she were a frightened animal. She was about to place her hand on the distressed woman when Asuka pulled herself away from Rei's reach, only leading the seventeen year old to smack her own head against the wall.

"NO!" She screamed. "Stay away from me!"

The young woman knew that Asuka wasn't thinking straight, noticing out of the corner of her eye, several empty glass bottles lying on the floor which was the obvious explanation for her friend's irrational behaviour. Her mental musings were quickly disrupted by My Chemical Romance's- _Mama_, forcing Rei to realise just how frighteningly fitting the lyrics were for Asuka's mood and with the incredible urge to shut it off. Walking over to the stereo, she turned it off instantly. Of course, the ex-pilot realised that the silence was even worse to listen to and almost regretted getting rid of the music, even if it was too depressing for her liking.

"Asuka..." she began again, hoping to get a reaction from her friend.

"Mama, I'm so sorry... please forgive me. Please tell me mama that I'm still alive. Please tell me that you won't let me die, that you'll protect me. Please tell me that you love me," Rei could feel herself shaking in shock to what this girl was confessing, it forced her to use every once of personal strength she possessed to remain in control before she completely broke into tears as well.

"Please tell me that I was never a mistake." Asuka finished quietly, closing her eyes.

Rei was grateful to notice that her friend was beginning to calm down, until she suddenly reopened her eyes and the former pilot of Unit 00 felt incredibly uneasy when Asuka focused her own onto Rei's. Because she had been asleep before, the once blue-haired female, had taken out her contacts meaning that her natural eye-colour was now revealed to the whole world and she couldn't help but feel intimidated by Asuka's blue & iris ones.

_Purple? Since when did Asuka have purple as one of her eye colours? Weren't they always blue?_ Rei wondered to herself, tempted to before was cut off from the German teenager who asked a question that made her blood turn cold.

"Why did mama leave me, Rei? Didn't she want to save me?"

The question seemed innocent enough, her voice almost reminded Rei of a little child, yet the eighteen year old felt as though someone was someone had placed acid in the water she only had hours earlier, her stomach beginning to corrode into nothingness.

_How am I meant to answer that? _It was a good question: How was she meant to respond to such a question without further upsetting the girl? Asuka was completely vulnerable and if she wasn't careful with what she said then Asuka's conditions could possibly worsen. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, the red-eyed girl sat on the edge of Asuka's bed, deciding that it would be better to get closer to the distressed female.

_Please let this work,_ she prayed before pulling Asuka into a hug.

It was bizarre experience for Rei Ayanami to touch another human being in such an intimate manner as a way of comfort, even after all these years. Yes she became more sociable and less stoic towards other people, yet Rei was still uncomfortable whenever someone would try to shake her hand or give her a hug.

_You let Kaworu hold your hand when you two danced and there were no complaints with that, so why should this be any different? _She frowned, irritated at such a thought would come at a time like this.

"Why Rei? Why did she leave me?" Asuka asked, of course it came out mumbled against Rei's mahogany-coloured hair.

_Give her the answer. Tell Asuka the truth. You've been keeping it from her for too long..._ the voice inside her mind whispered. Hearing it reminded the young woman of how the information she kept in her heart could actually free Asuka from the raging war she had been fighting within herself for almost four years now.

_I never wanted to hurt her..._ she thought guiltily. _I just wanted to protect her._

"Why did she break her promise, Rei? Why didn't mama protect me like she said she would? Didn't mama love me?"

_It's now or never._

Breathing in another deep breath, the eighteen year old braced herself for the worst that was to come from this confession before speaking for the first time tonight other than her flatmate's name.

"Asuka... when I was Lillith, I was able to look into the soul of every human being on earth. You already know this, obviously!" Letting out a small chuckle, Rei tried to ease the tension building inside her chest only to realise that her efforts were futile.

"What I never told you, what I should have told you, Asuka... I saw your mother." The young woman noticed with great heart ache, her friend's body had begun to slightly tremble with quiet sobs escaping from her lips. Rei wanted to stop or at least take her words back, but she quickly reminded herself that Asuka had a right to know.

_Just like Jayne had the right to know what happened to her parents..._

"Asuka... I was able to look into her heart and I saw, I knew that your mother genuinely loved you." Rei was a little surprised yet also excited to feel something inside of her changing, like a powerful sensation coursing through her being. It was almost as though a great burden were being lifted off her shoulders and suddenly speaking no longer seemed like a daunting task, or telling the truth for that matter.

"She loved you so much Asuka, that she would've done anything to make you happy."

"You're lying," the seventeen year old said. The German was trying her best to remain strong; trying to deny the words Rei was saying, but her attempts of the tough-girl facade failed as her sobs continued.

The red-eyed girl wore a sad smile, feeling sympathetic for her friend. "No Asuka, I'm telling the truth. Your mother did love you. She wanted so many things for you: A home, a happy family but most importantly- she wanted to protect you. She wanted to always be able to watch over you and also make sure that you would be safe. Yet there was only one way of achieving this, so... she made the made the tough decision to dedicate her whole life towards her research instead taking care of you." Rei paused for a moment, taking the time to stroke the young girl's hair in a motherly fashion, figuring what she should say next before manage to find the right words.

"Your mother knew what she would be sacrificing with the contact experiment and although she was terrified of what the future would hold for both herself and you, she always reminded herself of a dream that not only she wanted to achieve, but her close friend Yui as well. They had both dreamed of giving their children a brighter future."

"Some bright future," Asuka mumbled sarcastically with anger evident in her features. "They both fucked up big time. They both let us down." Anger turned into sorrow as another tear escaped from underneath her closed eyelids.

"They did," Rei agreed. "They thought that they were doing the right thing. You know Asuka, they only realised their mistakes when it was too late. Kyoko's revelation was after you were..." she really didn't want to say after Ariel's attack, yet thankfully the German beat her to it.

"You mean after my mind was raped."

"Yes."

"A bit late to have a fucking revelation, don't you think?" She spat, "She did nothing to protect me from Ariel's attack and instead she decided to let me figure it out as I've hit rock-bottom?! How fucking convenient!"

The ruby-eyed girl noticed with great alarm that Asuka was beginning to become more aggressive. She was starting to struggle against Rei's hold giving Rei the warning sign that if she did not calm the distressed female anytime soon, then Asuka may become violent and try to further damage her bedroom's facilities.

_How could I have only notice it now?_ Rei wondered to herself, looking around the room and only realising for the first time just how devastating Asuka's wrath truly was when she's influenced by a mixture of over powering emotions & a heavy amount of alcohol. Her clothes were thrown to the ground and also books & other items that would've usually resided on her desk were scattered across the floor whilst paper was torn (from respective places Rei was uncertain) and ripped into shreds.

_Cleaning up is going to be a pain in the ass,_ she thought. For a moment Rei pondered on whether to or not let clean up the mess, or simply let Asuka do it herself in the morning before was interrupted by Asuka.

"But the moment I needed her the most; screaming, bleeding, pleading for her to reawaken, to protect me just like she promised, what does she do? She lets our bodies be literally torn apart by those monsters and then be speared to death!" She almost yelled, finally freeing herself from her flatmate's grasp and stood up.

Asuka was beyond furious, Rei could tell, but she had never realised that her friend had so much anger towards her mother. In the rare moments which the German female had mentioned her mother, Asuka had always spoke about Kyoko in a positive & fond manner, leaving the former pilot of Unit 00 to assume that she had let go of the past and forgive her mother.

_There's more to Asuka than meets the eye._ Rei thought, feeling ashamed of her ignorance.

"She didn't even try to fight back, Rei." The seventeen year old continued in a more softer tone, as if she were trying to regain self-control.

Although it was not surprising to say that more tears manage to escape from her eyes and continued to flow down her cheeks, her voice slightly cracking as she continued. "Why Rei? Why didn't she try to fight back? I thought she loved me. I thought she wanted to protect me. Wasn't that the reason she dedicated her life to her research as you said, Rei? To make sure I was safe?"

Asuka was hurting. She was hurting so bad that Rei was uncertain if she would be able to remain stronger for much longer until she too, was consumed with tears and the silent sorrows that haunted her each night in her own dreams. The feeling of personal liberation had now long vanished inside of Rei and she couldn't help but feel despair at acknowledging the painful reminders of her past.

_Even though you'll never be free of your own nightmares it doesn't mean you can't do it for her,_ a voice whispered to Rei.

"Asuka..." licking her dry lips, Rei took another breath before continuing. "Your mother wanted to do so much for you. It pained her to watch your pain & agony as the Lance stabbed you both. She told me that it had been so horrible for her to see you suffering and pleading for you that she hid herself again."

"So that was why I couldn't sense her presence's anymore..." Asuka whispered, mostly to herself as the information reached to her brain. "She turned her back on me. Again."

"No Asuka!" Rei interrupted, terrified she had given her friend the wrong impression. "Your mother thought that if she didn't talk to you then you would eject the entry plug. When you didn't leave her and the Eva series attacked her, your mother became terrified... she wanted to fight back, please me believe when I say that, but she couldn't..."

"She couldn't because she knew what would happen to both of you if you fought back. Asuka, you tend to become irrational when you're furious and your mother knew that. Kyoko didn't want to see you to be hurt any further, so she let the Eva series attack her, hoping that you would then eject the entry plug. She didn't care that they would kill her, she wasn't afraid of it. The only thing that mattered is that you would be safe and she rather have you think that she abandoned you than let you die."

Hearing Rei's words caused the German's eyes to widen with shock, leaving fine tremors of disbelief to run through her body and almost caused a new fresh wave of tears to flood which thankfully, Asuka was able to refrain herself from. Sitting herself down on the bed again, the seventeen year old looked her friend in the eye and silently hoped that she was telling the truth, yet at the same time, wished for it to be all a lie.

The ex-pilot ruminated if she should tell Asuka the final reason for her Evangelion's gruesome demise, knowing that once she told it to young female it would hurt her even more and may even destroy what little there was left of her self-confidence. But maybe if she told the truth, just maybe...

_It would save her. And maybe it would even help her to finally forgive herself._

"But you still stayed... you wanted to be with her even though you would both die," the eighteen year old couldn't help but feel overwhelmed at her friend's loyalty towards Kyoko. The thought of Asuka refusing to leave her mother alone despite making her childhood a living hell and the need to be with Kyoko even though her own body was literally being torn apart, left Rei with goose-bumps.

_And all you got in return was a split arm & speared body. That's not right._

"Your mother knew that she had failed to protect you, Asuka. So when they flew away, your mother allowed you to reactivate the Evangelion. Kyoko knew that it was her fault that you were hurt and felt like she had no right to save you. She thought you had a better chance of surviving if you took control of Unit 02 and fought the Eva Series."

"But you said that she didn't want me to fight," the German said, becoming confused. "That I would think irrationally and only hurt myself even further."

"That was when she thought you'd retreat. But when you didn't and Kyoko realised that you were determined to stay, she knew that she wasn't strong enough to take them on and defeat them, however, you were. So... your mother let you take full control of Eva 02 when it became berserk."

Rei tried to ignore the expression etched onto the German's tearstained features, except that shaky breathing was making it very difficult for the former pilot of Unit 00 to pass over. I'm sorry, Asuka. I never wanted to hurt you.

"That's why she didn't protect you, Asuka..." finishing in a subdued tone. "It was because she thought you were better off without her."

"So it's my fault she died... because I tried to fight back," she stated.

"No, it wasn't your fault. It was never your fault," Rei said softly. "You fought as hard as you could... your mother couldn't have asked for more. Eva Unit 02's demise was inevitable, Kyoko knew that since the day of the contact experiment. And I know that it's hurt you so much to remember what happened that day... when you lost her. I know that despite everything she did to you as a child... what finding her presence in Unit 02 meant to you... but you've got to let her go."

Seeing that the German was about to lash out, the pale-skinned female quickly continued. "Kyoko loved you, I know she did, and I know that she would've done anything she could've to have prevented the torture you went through. She'll never forgive herself for that, but she would want you to let the let go off the past. She would want you to let her go."

"Would she though? Would she really?"

"Yes."

Rei was saddened when she saw more tears coming from her friend's eyes, yet she was uncertain if they ere either tears of sadness or joy or relief, all she knew was that they were different from the ones before. Pulling her into a hug once again, the red-eyed girl listened to the German's sobs for a while before realising with some surprise and relief that her friend had fallen asleep. After some awkward movements, the former First Child managed to lie her friend onto the bed and placing the bed sheets over her, looking at her friend sympathetically before she turned the flicking the light switch off and closing the door behind her.

That night, for the first time she was created, Rei Ayanami cried. As she did she remembered with cruel irony the first she "supposedly" did it, the minute before she sacrificed both her life & her Evangelion to save Shinji from the same cruel fate, and to save humanity. But mostly to save Gendo as he had once done for her.

_That wasn't me though,_ her mind objected. _And I don't even know why I cried afterwards in the apartment._

She did though- the previous Rei before her was more of a human then she would have ever been. That Rei was accepted by the others, she was liked, and she felt emotions than this new being would ever understand. Yet she was here, and now she finally understood the purpose to these tears she was shedding.

"So this is what it's like to be human," she whispered to herself. Joy spread through her as she finally felt her moment of elation, yet at the same time hoping that the noise she was waking wouldn't wake up Asuka.

* * *

"Asuka," Rei begun softly. "You know that your survival wasn't a mistake. Don't you?"

Looking up, the seventeen year old pondered over the small question before giving a nod as her answer. Seeing it, the other female continued, "Then why do you keep thinking it is?"

"Because sometimes I wonder if I really do deserve to live after everything that's happened," the brunette answered simply.

"Well you shouldn't. You're here and there's nothing you can do about it, except for continuing to live on."

Asuka took the words in, digesting them thoroughly, until she could no longer due to the gentle throbbing coming from her temple, warning her of the migraine that was close to approaching._ Gott,_ she thought with mild agony. _Hangovers and listening to Rei's lectures definitely do NOT mix!_

"I know that, Rei," she almost growled, wishing for the aspirin to kick in sooner. "It's just..." dropping her voice, Asuka wondered what should she say. Should she even speak at all? A month ago she wouldn't have given an explanation to Rei at all, instead she would screamed at her flatmate to get out of her room and stay out of her life. Had she really changed that much?

_No,_ a voice told her. _Just things between you and her have._

It's true, she agreed, thinking about how things had become less intense between them and more understanding since Rei had helped her sneak into the masquerade ball. Ever since that night, Asuka had been more willing to put up with pale-skinned woman's presence and even managed to bite her pride and accept help from the flatmate- no, Rei was much more than simply a person she lived with, or a previous comrade in war. Rei was... a friend. Her friend. It only took almost four years and a ticket to realise that.

"It's just," the German began again. "I made a promise to myself that if I did come out of the lake of LCL, I would change. But look at me: all I've been doing since is drinking, loathing and being a bitch towards everyone just because of what I had to go through! I've never even thought about what the others went through..." she finished off thoughtfully. Images of Yuki, Ryoka, Jayne & Hikari flashed through her mind, painfully forcing her remember that all of them had lost their entire family.

_Hikari lost her sisters. Jayne lost her parents. Yuki as well. Ryoka lost her husband and children. All I lost was my mother's soul in a being that I dedicated my whole life to. They lost a lot more than I ever had... and yet, they still moved on. Is it possible for me?_

"You lost a lot that day, Asuka, I'm not going to lie about it," Rei said straightforward. "But you are right; they are others out there that lost than you did and are worse off than you. However, that does not mean your pain doesn't count."

For some reason hearing someone tell her that gave relief for the seventeen year old, making her feel almost as if it were another small burden being lifted off of her shoulders to be told that she wasn't alone- to be told that someone else understood.

"Ach Gott, Rei, you don't know how long I've wanted to hear that," she said, shaking her head gently whilst wearing a small smile and letting out a soft chuckle.

"I think I do," the other girl wanted to say, however, decided against it. Instead she replied; "Well it's true. Just no one ever really knows it."

"Hey Rei are you ready yet? We're going to be late for school if you don't-" Mana began, sliding open the door of Asuka's room. Realising that her friend was having a conversation with the German female, Mana started again, "Morning Dominique."

Although she was not annoyed with Mana's intrusion as she may have been a few days ago, for some reason, hearing Mana address her by her fake name made Asuka feel hollow inside, having the urge to tell her to not call her that anymore. However, the logical part of her mind explained why it could not be so; people didn't know her as Asuka Langley Sohryu- The Second Child and designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. No, she was known as a troubled & angry teenager by the name of Dominique.

"Morning Asako," she replied back. "Kaldea just wanted to borrow one of my textbooks. There you go, Kaldea," getting out of her bed and picking up her biology book before she handed it to Rei. "Now... get going."

Like Asuka, Rei also felt hurt when she heard herself be addressed by her other name, yet she knew the reason to Asuka's sudden attitude swing. Although Shinji had been kind to her and try to be a friend, Mana had been Rei's first real friend, helping the girl to learn what emotions are and also helping her to open up to other people, and becoming almost like a kindred spirit for her. Mana had always been there for the former pilot; when Asuka insulted Rei, Mana would fight back in the girl's place. When Rei didn't understand how she should feel, Mana would explain. And when one of the boy's at school would flirt with Rei, making her feel extremely uncomfortable, Mana would walk straight up to that guy and tell him to drop dead.

Mana had been there for her many times over the years and asked for nothing in return. Rei knew of her friend's feelings towards their flatmate, also knowing with some heartache that if she were to become Asuka's friend, then she would lose her friendship with Mana. The eighteen year old desperately wanted to be friend's with both of the girls, wishing that they would settle their differences, however, she knew that it would never happen.

And Asuka would never allow Rei to lose Mana's friendship because of her.

"See you later," Rei said, walking to the door. "And thanks..." her back turned against the German as she stood by the door frame. "Dominique," she finished almost remorseful before leaving the room with Mana following closely behind.

"And thank you too... Rei," she whispered to herself.

_For helping me last night,_ she added quietly. _For letting me finally know the truth._

Asuka shouldn't have remembered last night, nor wanted to, but because of her photographic memory, she was able to recall every little detail that occurred before and during her drunken rampage. She was ashamed that it had happened, that she had not been strong enough to keep herself from crying, to let someone else see those tears coming from her eyes or just how fucked up she truly was, yet to have Rei seen it was somehow fitting.

Maybe because they had both seen the horrors of the Angel war, or because Rei had been Lillith, or because both have never cried despite of everything's that gone wrong for them. Whatever the reason, they would always have those small acts of kindness & understanding, even if they could never say out loud just how much it meant.

* * *

AN: Wow this actually beat the previous chapter, hope everyone enjoyed it though! This chapter wasn't how I originally intended it to be; it was originally going to have Asuka think that Rei or Mana was Kyoko and out of sympathy, she pretended to be Kyoko and explain to Asuka why Unit 02 didn't fight back. I really wanted it to happen that way, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted at all. Yet, somehow it would've ended up being Rei as Mana wouldn't know the truth about Kyoko or have the same atmosphere.

And if I did do it that way then I would've had to make Asuka forget the entire thing. Instead, doing it this way helped establish the relationship between the 2 former pilots- both almost having a friendship, but never really able to have one. I can promise you from here, things are going to get a lot more interesting: romance, truths revealed and forgiveness. Thanks to everyone for their support for this fanfic, it's been 6 months since its last update but its far from dying. Take care.

P.S. The song used is called _Broken _by Without Tomorrow. There's an Evangelion AMV of that song on youtube, you should watch it, it's really cool.


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